The Epoch of the War
by zerotactics1
Summary: After Harry’s fifth year he is forced to come to terms with his godfather’s death. He disappears for two weeks while he’s at the Dursleys, and a new prophecy is made. Through a series of chain events his life changes, for better or worse?
1. The New Prophecy

Chapter 1: The New Prophecy

A/N: I've been working on this story for a while and after many changes Chapter 1 is finally ready. I'd like to thank my beta for all the work he has put in to this chapter. Chapter 2 will be done shortly after it's edited. If you have any questions about what happened, feel free to ask me and I'll give you an answer unless it will be answered later on or gives away elements of the plot. Enjoy!

"Boy! Get down here, NOW!" Uncle Vernon yelled, not caring that it was only seven in the morning.

Harry, accustomed to his uncle's yelling, got up quietly and put some pants on.

Harry had been home hardly a week, and he had already done more chores than anyone had done over the entire school year. His uncle had made him clean the entire house top to bottom, wash the outside of the house, do the lawns twice, tend to the gardens, and even build a shed in the backyard. Each morning since he had been home, Harry had been awoken by his uncle's loud voice and bombarded with chores before he was given any food. All Harry really wanted to do was sit in his room and wallow in despair. The guilt was eating him alive.

'_It's all my fault Sirius is dead. All my fault,'_ he kept telling himself. In the end he was forced to walk around and do his chores, but he was more like a zombie than anything else. Not that any of his relatives paid attention to him, but even _they_ noticed he was just going through the motions of life. He ate only enough to keep on going, and he only spoke to find out what he was supposed to do.

He hated himself for rushing off to the Department of Mysteries instead of listening to Hermione's advice and thinking it through. He hated that she was right, but most of all he hated himself for not thinking of using the mirror Sirius had given him. It could all have been avoided if he had just remembered to use the mirror. In his rage he had thrown it into his trunk, where it now lay broken.

On top of his godfather's death, he now had the fate of the wizarding world on his shoulders because of some stupid prophecy that was made almost sixteen years ago. _'Why do I have to be the one to save everyone? Why can't someone else have the pressure for once? I'm always in the spotlight, ever since I rejoined the bloody wizarding world when I was eleven,'_ he cursed. He had been looked at with awe for something he could not even remember.

'_This prophecy is the reason Lord Voldemort is after me, it's the reason my godfather is dead, and most of all it's the reason his parents are dead,'_ he scowled at the thought that ran through his mind. He felt his eyes begin to grow hot and damp with the thoughts of the life he could have had without the prophecy or Voldemort.

He should have known better, and he definitely should not have let his friends talk him in to letting them follow him. _'They could have been killed, they had gotten hurt. Ginny had broke her ankle, Ron had been attacked by a brain, Neville's wand is now broken and both he and Luna had been injured during the fight. They all may have been minor injuries, but that was because we were all been lucky, extremely lucky,' _Harry recollected morosely. He vowed to himself to never let his friends follow him into danger again. Thinking back to it, Harry realized one of the only reasons they had not been seriously injured was because he had held the prophecy, and that was the one thing the Death Eaters had wanted.

His thoughts turned back to the prophecy again and they somehow ended up on Dumbledore. The last time he had spoken to the old wizard with the half-moon spectacles, he had destroyed almost everything in the man's office. He felt somewhat guilty for it, but he still could not shake the feeling that Dumbledore should have told him about the prophecy earlier. The Department of Mysteries could have been avoided. Everything in his life revolved around Dumbledore's choices. He had never asked Harry how he felt about his decisions; he had just done what he felt was best.

'_Dumbledore never realized he made my life a living hell by just sticking me with the Dursleys,'_ Harry thought, mentally cursing Dumbledore for his benign view of the world. Harry had now come up with two ways that the whole catastrophe could have been avoided, and there was still one more. Occlumency… He should have learned it, but Snape had to be his usually git self, a horrible teacher. Once again this was one of Dumbledore's choices.

'_Why couldn't Dumbledore have taught me, himself? Surely Dumbledore knew Occlumency better than Snape,'_ Harry wondered. Three different ways the Department of Mysteries could have been avoided, and two of them revolved around Dumbledore. True, Harry could have put more effort into Occlumency, but Snape hated him and Harry hated Snape. Dumbledore should have known it would not work out.

His thoughts turned once again, this time to the past school year. It had been the worst school year ever for him, and he had always looked forward to being at Hogwarts. Snape had been worse than ever and the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had been horrible. Dolores Umbridge had been the bane of Harry's entire school year. She had called him a liar and a lunatic when he tried to tell everyone that Voldemort had returned. She claimed that they would not need to learn proper Defense, so they had just read from the lame-excuse-for-a-Defensive-Theory book she had chosen for their lessons. To top it off he now had another scar. The words 'I must not tell lies' were permanently etched into his right hand. She had even attempted to force information out of him. When Dumbledore had disappeared, she had even threatened him with Veritaserum and the Cruciatus Curse. All in all his school year had been a right mess. The one bright spot had been the DA, or Dumbledore's Army. _'Until Um-bitch had come along and ruined it,'_ he thought, cursing Umbridge for being such an evil bitch. He was rudely shaken from his thoughts by his Uncle's loud voice.

"BOY! NOW!" his uncle repeated even louder, jolting Harry completely from his thoughts and misery.

Harry started down the stairs while buttoning his jeans. "Yes?" Harry asked dully, reaching the living room.

"Boy, I need this house clean as a whistle by dinner time. By that time your Aunt Marge should be here."

Hearing that his aunt, whom he had blown up on her previous visit, would be joining them made his anger spark; it was quickly replaced, however, with a sense of foreboding. If he got angry at her again he would surely be expelled for underage magic. It would be the third time he had done underage magic. He had already done it twice, and a third letter would most likely mean expulsion and he could not risk that.

"Yes, sir," Harry replied lifelessly. "But you'd better warn her not to insult my parents or my friends. I will not allow her to insult them," he added with as much force as he could muster, though it was not all that much.

"Empty threats boy, you and I both know that your freak school will expel you if you do any of that unnatural stuff."

"Fine, I'll just have to introduce her to my lunatic godfather. I'm sure you remember him. He hasn't killed anyone in weeks, I bet he would be glad to meet Aunt Marge," Harry lied. He hated talking about his godfather like that, but his uncle did not know he was dead. He turned and headed into the sitting room to start cleaning. He did not want his uncle to see his eyes becoming moist with tears.

By about two o'clock, well before dinnertime, Harry had finished his chores and finally gotten something to eat. Even though it was not much, the turkey and cheese sandwich had tasted great after having no food for the whole day. He went upstairs thinking about the recurring nightmare he had been having since shortly after Sirius had died. It was always the same.

It would start out in the Department of Mysteries and Harry would watch, unable to move, as one by one his friends would walk through the veil. Voldemort would be standing to the side with Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy, cackling evilly. First Sirius then Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and then Cedric would walk through it. He was not sure why Cedric was in his nightmare, but he figured it was because he had watched him die over a year ago, during the Triwizard Tournament.

Once they had all gone through the veil, they would come back as ghosts and walk up to Harry one by one telling him it was his fault they were dead. They would tell him that he should have saved them, and that he could have done something, he should have done something. The last people to tell him this were always his parents. His father would have his arm around his mother and would glare at Harry while his mother cried. He would then proceed to tell him how disappointed they were in him and that it was his fault they died, they had wanted to live to grow old together, but Harry had caused their death. This scared Harry the most. It was the one thing he could not bear to think about. He had always wanted his parents to be proud of him, even if they could not tell him so.

In the back of his brain Harry knew none of this was true, but his nightmare was always the same. That thought had been pushed to farthest region of his mind. He wanted more than anything to tell someone about it, but Sirius would be the only one he would want to talk to about this sort of thing. If he told Ron or Hermione, neither would have the reaction he wanted. Hermione would probably come up with some sort of answer from a book about his recurring nightmare trying to tell him something, and that he should talk to Dumbledore about it. Ron would tell him he's probably going crazy, but then they would have a big laugh about it and forget about. Yet his nightmare would still come back. Ron might be concerned for a while, but he would not have an answer, he might even say he should go to Dumbledore or his dad, Arthur Weasley.

"BOY! Get down here!" his uncle yelled, again shaking Harry from his miserable thoughts.

"I'm coming, Uncle Vernon," Harry yelled. He hadn't realized how much time had passed going over his nightmare. His uncle had already left and come back with his aunt.

Harry walked slowly down the stairs, just to stop in front of Marge. Thankfully her dog had stayed home this time.

"Oh… You again, I would have thought you would be gone by now. Still haven't tossed him out on his ass yet, Vernon?" Marge asked, looking from Harry to Vernon.

"No, I would, but when we sent him to St. Brutus' I had to sign a form saying that I wouldn't let him out into the world alone… Dangerous boy you know."

"Well, it's for the best I suppose. We don't need another drunk like his dad was. Either that or he will probably go off killing people like all those other lunatics."

"Don't. Talk. About. My. Father!" Harry said forcefully, through gritted teeth, anger radiating out of him.

"How 'bout a drink Marge, brandy okay?" Vernon said, sensing the danger towards his sister's well being.

The night ended with the Dursleys and Marge enjoying a fabulous dinner, consisting of a baked ham, roasted carrots and potatoes, gravy, and rolls. While Harry was given the least to eat, he was still given quite a bit for a change, and it was all pretty good. He had to admit his Aunt Petunia was a decent cook, not as good as Mrs. Weasley or anything, but still good. Harry quickly made his way upstairs, after doing all the dishes and putting the leftovers into the refrigerator, to go to bed.

Once upstairs, Harry noticed a new stack of letters sitting on his desk. Hedwig was sleeping in her cage. 'She must have delivered the letters while everyone was eating,' he mused.

He had completely forgotten that letters were most likely going to arrive that day. It had been two days since he had written back to them. His friends had been writing to him constantly, especially Hermione. She kept nagging him to talk to her about Sirius' death. He was getting fed up with her nagging because he did not want to talk about it. It would not make Sirius come back and it would not make him feel better. Ron, on the other hand, had taken to writing as if he was stepping on pins and needles around Harry. His letters were carefully avoiding the topic, but it was obvious he wanted to talk about it. Harry had just kept sending two word notes that read _I'm fine_ back to them to keep them from running to his 'rescue'. However, the most surprising letter had come from Ginny. She had written to him telling him to stop blaming himself for Sirius' death; that she would not press him to talk to anyone, but that she was there for him if he ever wanted to talk. He was thankful for her, but still blamed himself for Sirius' death. In the end he had actually written more than two words back to her. It was more of a thank you note for coming with him to the Ministry and an apology for dragging her with him. He skimmed the new letters and found they were the same as usual, all except for Ginny's, which he took the time to read.

_Harry,_

_  
I told you once to stop blaming yourself for Sirius' death. I know you're doing it. I can tell by the way you're writing to me. And you do not need to apologize for dragging me along. If you remember, I forced you to let me come. It was my decision and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Don't thank me for standing by your side at the Department of Mysteries, you know I always would. I won't press you anymore on Sirius' death, but please stop blaming yourself. It was not your fault, it was that bastard Voldemort's fault that all of this happened._

_Now, what's been going on here at the Burrow? It's been pretty quiet with just Ron, Mum, Dad and myself. The twins have opened a shop in Diagon Alley and the business is booming from what I've heard so far. Mum won't let us go visit them, and they only come by on Sundays for the family dinner. She grounded us for two weeks for going off with you to the Ministry, but I'm not complaining, although Ron is. He's not complaining about going, just that the punishment is unfair. _

_But don't get me started on Ron. He has been being a prat about Dean ever since I said we were dating. I mean it's quite funny when he goes on about Dean being evil and unworthy of me when he was fine with him before I said we were dating, but it gets on my nerves more often than not. I'm tired of him trying to be the big brother and protect me. He doesn't realize I don't need his protection. You better not start doing it also, Harry._

_Oh, Ron was right jealous when I got an actual letter from you. He's been tired of your two word notes to him. You really should write him more than two words, I know he's concerned about you, but he's thick and doesn't know how to go about it properly. I caught him sneaking into my room today trying to read the letter you sent me. I almost hexed him for doing that, but the threat of it was enough to make him run for his life. I don't think he was able to read much, if any because it was under a pile of other stuff and it looked like he was just pulling it out when I came into the room. Remember if you ever need to talk about anything I'm always available._

_Love,_

_Ginny_

Harry had actually laughed at the situation with Dean. Knowing Ron as Harry did, he knew that Ron would not drop the subject until they either broke up or Ginny fixed his attitude. He actually enjoyed reading about what was happening at the Burrow, but most of all he wished he could be at the Burrow, or at least away from the Dursleys. Figuring he could wait until morning to write back to Ginny and then write something longer to Ron and Hermione, as Ginny had suggested, he set the letter down on his desk and climbed into bed. He was not looking forward to the nightmares that were sure to plague him that night.

That night Marge woke up to Harry's moans coming from down the hall.

"No Sirius, don't go, I need you."

"What the bloody hell is wrong with that boy?" she wondered aloud as she rolled over trying to get back to sleep. She could faintly hear him moaning other names, but she could not make them out so she decided to just ignore it. If it happened again tomorrow night she would give him a piece of her mind.

"NO! CEDRIC!" she heard suddenly. This time however, it was much louder and she decided to just give him a good tongue lashing now instead of waiting. She would not have her sleep interrupted by some delinquent of a boy. She got up out of bed and put her slippers on. As she went out into the hallway toward Harry's door, she saw Vernon coming out of his room from the end of the hall.

"BOY! I swear, if your aunt wakes up because of your screaming… Oh hello Marge," Vernon said, walking down the hall, noticing Marge by Harry's door. Vernon opened the door and both of them went into Harry's room to find him rolling his head from side to side, his arms and legs were thrashing about. To anyone that cared, it was obvious he was having a terrible nightmare, but the Dursleys never cared for him. They only cared about their sleep being interrupted, so they had no sympathy for him.

"BOY! WAKE UP! Look what you went and did! You woke her up with your damn moaning and screaming, I ought to beat you for this one!" Vernon yelled, waking Harry up.

Harry sat bolt right upright when his uncle yelled. Sweat was pouring down his face. His bare chest and pillow were already soaked in it.

"It's fine Vernon, apparently Harry's little boyfriend Cedric broke up with him at St. Brutus'," Aunt Marge sneered. Harry shakily reached for his glasses and put them on as he followed what Aunt Marge said. His anger sparked along with his sorrow for Cedric's death.

"What's wrong Harry, heart broken by your little faggot boyfriend Cedric? Queer as your father I suppose. I heard from Vernon here that you have a little buddy Sirius who you enjoy playing with, and who happens to be a convicted murderer. Did he happen to play with your father too?" she continued.

"Never insult my parents or my godfather," Harry said in a low, deadly tone.

"Oh, godfather was he? Real cute that is, I wonder if your mother knew what he was up to with her husband and son."

"SHUT UP!" Harry yelled as he sprang from his bed with his wand in hand pointing it at Marge. Uncle Vernon's face went pale as he shrank back out of the room.

"Don't point that stick at me. Is that what you use to play with? I bet your mummy enjoyed it to," she kept on going as if she had not heard Harry.

Harry, whose rage was nearly out of control, did not notice that his nightstand was hovering about four inches off the floor.

"I SAID SHUT UP! NEVER INSULT MY PARENTS!" Harry screamed at her. He knew he had to calm down, but that was impossible if she kept on insulting his parents. He went over a list of potions ingredients in his head, but could not remember more than the first two ingredients.

"Or else what, boy? Going to go off and get killed like your parents?"

Those words were the last Marge would ever speak to Harry. As soon as the words left her mouth, a huge wave of power erupted out from Harry. The house began shaking violently, as if an earthquake was hitting. All the pictures and windows shattered, items were falling off the shelves around the house. On the opposite side of the house, Dudley's bedroom, along with most of the hallway, collapsed into the floor, crashing down into the rooms below them. Screams were heard, flames were seen and blood was streaked across what was left of the walls. When Petunia heard the screaming and explosions, she ran blindly out of her bedroom door right over the edge, and fell onto the ground of the story below. She landed awkwardly and her left leg broke with a nasty snap, she screamed out in pain. Vernon, who had backed away from Marge towards the staircase, was blown down the stairs and into a wall, and knocked unconscious. Once all the smoke and dust had cleared away, Harry was shocked to see all of the destruction, and that a chunk of wall was noticeably missing. Looking out through the hole in the wall, Harry saw Marge on the front lawn of Number Four Privet Drive.

"The Hog's Head!" Dumbledore yelled, putting his head into the green flames. Despite the fact that it was nearly three in the morning, Dumbledore was confident that he would be welcomed.

"ABERFORTH!"

"Albus, is that you?"

"Yes, hurry, I need your help. I need you to go check on Harry. I was just alerted of an extreme amount of energy being unleashed, and part of his home being destroyed. I need you to get there before the Ministry does and bring Harry back to Hogwarts. I would go myself, but I fear Harry will not listen to me after what happened the last time I spoke with him, and I currently have a visitor that I need to attend to. He has important information for the Order."

"Alright Albus, but you owe me one," Aberforth said, before apparating away to Privet Drive.

With that crisis hopefully averted, Albus turned back to the other occupant in his office.

"What is this troubling news you were going to tell me about, Severus?" Albus asked to the man sitting in front of him. The man was dressed in black robes with a traveling cloak on, it too was black. His hooked nose stood out on his face and his greasy hair fell down to just above his eyebrows.

"Albus, I was with the Dark Lord two days ago when a prophecy was made. He had captured Trelawney and was trying to force the prophecy out of her, when she made a new prophecy right in front of us. Only the three of us were in the room."

"May I see your memory of it?" Albus asked. He was deeply concerned about Trelawney, but this new prophecy was a more pressing matter.

'Wow' was the only coherent thought that Aberforth was able to form after seeing Privet Drive. Although the few flames were gone, there was still a chunk of the house missing, a woman lying on the front lawn and neighbors scattered about trying to figure out what had happened. Performing a Disillusionment Charm, Aberforth set out to find Harry in the wreckage.

"The immense power," he said aloud to himself, still able to feel the aura of magic around him. Focusing on it, he realized that it was centered upstairs.

After climbing to the top of the somewhat broken stairway, he found Harry still looking around in shock.

"Harry?" he said cautiously, taking off the Disillusionment Charm. "Are you Harry Potter?"

"Dumbledore?" he said, looking at a man who was strikingly similar looking to Albus.

"Half right, but I'm not Albus. I'm his brother Aberforth. He sent me to come and pick you up before the Ministry arrived," he said slowly. "But I'm not sure if I really want to."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, eyeing Aberforth suspiciously. Harry was still trying to get around the fact that he had caused this, but what Aberforth said struck him as suspicious.

"Harry, what you did here required an amazing amount of magical power, and I was wondering if I could take you somewhere I found in my journeys. It will help you learn to control your newfound powers and talents among other things."

"Where?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Do you trust me?"

Harry thought a moment before nodding. He was not sure why he trusted Aberforth, but he just knew that he did. Aberforth pulled out his wand and muttered an incantation. Out of his wand came a silvery animal that instantly took off to the north. Harry did not have time to figure out what kind of animal was it was, for Aberforth had reached out and grabbed his arm, and with a soft pop, they both disapparated from Privet Drive.

Moments later the Ministry arrived, sending the Dursleys and Marge to St. Mungo's, repairing the damage, and getting reports of what happened from the Muggles before obliviating all of them.

Fudge, who looked happier than he had in a long time, said, "Find the boy and bring him to me."

But an hour later, after searching all of Surrey, the Aurors reported back. There was no sign of Harry Potter anywhere.

"My Lord, the preparations are almost complete. We shall be able to make our move in a little over two weeks," a man spoke while kneeling in front of a hooded man in black.

They were in the middle of a graveyard, in the dead of night. A few people cloaked in black were surrounding the two. They were looking around nervously, not sure what to make of this news and who, if anyone, would be punished.

"Good, you have done well, Wormtail," the man spoke coldly. He turned his gaze towards the other people standing around them. They all shivered in fear of his dark red gaze. A snake slithered around the man's feet as if protecting him; however, the aura around the man instilled fear all by itself.

"Bellatrix have you and your team studied the wards around the home?" he asked. A woman stepped in front of him as the man named Wormtail moved out of the way. She knelt in front of him before speaking.

"My Lord, we have an understanding of all but one of the wards. It appears to have been cast by their son, who is a curse-breaker. We shall have it ready to be taken down by tomorrow evening," she spoke, with a slight edge of fear in her voice.

"Very well, do not fail me, Bellatrix. I will not tolerate it again. Now leave me, I must make sure the final plans are set. Once this is done, there shall be no hope for the wizarding world," he spoke forcefully. Everyone quivered in fear at the force which he put behind his words. They quickly disapparated from the graveyard.

Voldemort turned to walk back up to the house on the hill in the distance. The snake followed him as he walked.

"_Once this is done, Nagini, no one shall be able to stop me,"_ he spoke to the snake. If anyone had been listening, they would have only heard hissing and spitting.

Once inside the house, he made his way up to one of the rooms upstairs, where he opened the door. A thin woman lay bound to the bed. She was asleep, but her face was pale and worn. Her large glasses were still on her face, even though she was sleeping.

Voldemort exited the room and recast the Locking Charm. He went further down the hall into another room, where he pulled out a large wooden basin with carvings of runes along the sides. He pulled out his wand and stirred the contents of the basin, which were a thick silvery liquid. After pulling his wand out of the basin, he spoke an incantation and a silvery mist hovered over it. It quickly enlarged to engulf the table it was set upon, before the mist turned into a clear image. It began playing before Voldemort's eyes as he went over what he had heard two days ago.

The woman was standing stiff as a board, in the room within which she currently resided. Voldemort and Severus were in the room. Voldemort was standing in front of her, while Severus was seated behind him near the wall. At the time the two men had been trying to force the prophecy, the one that had been smashed in the Department of Mysteries, out of her; however, when she stood up stock still and start speaking, he had quieted and listened to what she said. She spoke in an unusually harsh, hoarse tone rather than her usual soft, misty tone.

"_The Dark Lord's followers shall come for her…Youngest of seven, the only daughter of seven generations…The Chosen One, who once saved her from the Dark Lord's past,  
must save her from the Dark Lord's present, for only the Chosen One can save her.  
If the Seventh of Seven is not saved, the Dark Lord shall know no equal. But together, the Seventh of Seven and the Chosen One…united by the power the Dark Lord knows not, shall have the ultimate power to vanquish the Dark Lord…The Dark Lord's followers shall come for she who holds the key to the Chosen One."_

Abruptly, the memory ended and the mist sank back into the basin. Voldemort sat down in a chair contemplating what he was going to do. His main focus was the last line, _"she who holds the key to the Chosen One"_. He assumed that meant Harry Potter. The boy had been a thorn in his side for far too long, but if this girl Trelawney spoke of held the key to him, then he had to get a hold of it. If only he could rescue her, then the plan would be foolproof.

It would be the perfect plan to draw Harry Potter out of hiding and finally be rid of him. Voldemort was the most powerful wizard ever; no sixteen-year-old boy could match him. Harry would never let a friend suffer for him. He would go rushing to her aid and be killed.

He had been confused about _"Once saved from the past"_, but when he remembered Lucius speaking to him of the diary, which he had been very displeased to have lost, he realized the boy had saved her from his sixteen-year-old self. He would not make the mistake of letting her be saved once again.


	2. Changes

A/N: So, after extensive changes, editing, and mishaps with wrong files being sent to my beta looks at feet here's chapter 2! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Once again a big thanks to my beta for all his hard work.

Chapter Two: Changes

"I have called this meeting today because of a situation that we hoped would never occur," Dumbledore began, looking towards the assembled Order of the Phoenix members. He looked more his age than he ever had, his youthfulness had disappeared.

"It is a meeting I have always feared we might need to have. Harry Potter has disappeared!"

"At first," he continued, "We had hoped to find him near Surrey. After extensive searching through all of Britain, he has yet to be found." Many of the Order members looked at each other, all had shock written across their faces. They knew Harry had been missing, but to not have found a sixteen-year-old boy after two weeks of searching was… worrisome to say the least.

"Our worst fears may have been brought to life. It is quite possible that Voldemort has taken him. My brother told me that Harry was nowhere to be seen on Privet Drive. Since then, I have neither seen nor heard from Aberforth."

"Is it possible that they may have taken off together?" said a slow deep voice coming from a tall, bald black man.

"It is possible, Kingsley, but I highly doubt that my brother would have lied to me and taken Harry for whatever reason."

"But Albus, certainly he couldn't be… No! You-Know-Who can't possibly have him!" Mrs. Weasley practically screamed. Her eyes were red and blotchy from all the crying she had done lately. Harry was like her seventh son; she could not lose him to that monster.

"Calm down Molly, I'm sure the boy is fine," said a voice soothingly; the woman had spiky pink hair. The older red-haired man next to Molly put his arm around her to comfort her. "Besides, if Voldemort did have him, I'm sure he would have made it public by now," the young woman added.

"Yes, you are quite right Tonks, he most likely would have; I am just stating possibilities here. I have many more going through my mind. I just hope and pray that we find him soon… or all may be lost."

At that moment the front door burst open. Everyone in the room jumped up with their wands drawn at the sound of an intruder. Mad-Eye Moody's magical eye was zooming around in its socket before he pocketed his wand and sat down.

"It's just Severus. Maybe he has something to report," Moody said calmly. Severus Snape walked into the room a moment later. He looked tired, worn out, and very unhappy. His black cloak billowed in behind him as he strode into the room with his characteristic sneer plastered on his face.

"Do you have anything to report, Severus?" Dumbledore asked. Everyone sat down when they saw that Moody had been right.

"The Dark Lord is at a loss. He cannot find Potter and has not mentioned your brother, Headmaster," Snape reported. "He has Death Eaters searching for Potter as we speak, but he has searched as thoroughly as you have, if not more so. I must be going before my disappearance is noticed."

"Thank you, Severus," Dumbledore said politely. Snape nodded curtly, turned on his heels and left the room as quickly as he had burst into it.

"Now that we know Voldemort does not have Harry, and most likely does not have my brother, I must speak of another matter," Dumbledore said as he directed his gaze towards Arthur and Molly.

"What is it, Albus?" Arthur asked. He noticed Dumbledore was gazing at Molly and him specifically. He was not sure if he really wanted to know.

"I am going to be placing a Fidelius Charm over the Burrow in the next few days. Now that we know that Voldemort has not captured Harry, I must tell you about a prophecy that was made a little over two weeks ago. Please stay after the meeting as it mainly concerns your family. If there are no other matters to discuss, then the meeting is adjourned and everyone needs to return to the task at hand: finding Harry," Dumbledore finished. Everyone started filing out of the room towards the front door or the fireplace in order to leave the dark old house they used as Headquarters.

Dumbledore headed into the kitchen with Arthur and Molly following him. He conjured up tea for the three of them before sitting down to speak.

"The prophecy that I mentioned was made in Voldemort's presence a little over two weeks ago. Severus was with him, which is the only reason we know about it. However, I am almost positive that it concerns young Ginevra," Dumbledore spoke softly.

"Ginny? What's it got to do with Ginny?!" Molly demanded fretfully. She wrung her hands as Arthur attempted to calm her down.

"Please drink some tea to calm your nerves. I will explain it all to you once you have collected yourself."

After a short while, and two cups of tea, Molly had calmed down a significant amount.

"Now, are you ready to hear the prophecy?" Dumbledore asked, peering over his half-moon spectacles at Molly.

"Yes, we best get it over with while I'm calm enough to not do anything rash," Molly said.

"Yes, rash actions can have dire results," Dumbledore said cryptically.

"The Dark Lord's followers shall come for her…," he started. A moment later he had finished reciting the prophecy to Molly and Arthur and let it sink in before he spoke again. "So you see, we need to place a Fidelius Charm over your property in order to keep both Ginevra and the rest of your family safe. I know you have wards, but almost all wards can be broken. I would have you move back to Grimmauld Place, but if I remember correctly, from various sources voicing their…opinions for lack of a better term, none of your family was overjoyed here. The Fidelius should keep Ginny as safe from Voldemort as Grimmauld Place could."

"You're saying Ginny is going to be taken b-by… by Voldemort?" Molly said, before bursting into tears. Her face was ghostly pale and stricken with fear. Arthur's face was much the same at the thought of his princess being the target of Voldemort. He could not seem to find words to comfort his wife.

"Is there anything else we can do?" Arthur asked, finally able to form the words for the question he needed answered.

"I think the Fidelius Charm should be enough. I may add a few wards as extra precautions, but the Fidelius should do. Severus said he will inform me if he hears of any plans to capture Ginevra. But yes, Molly, I believe Voldemort will go after Ginevra sooner rather than later, so we must take all necessary precautions. I will stop by in two days to set up the wards. Arthur, I believe you will want to be the Secret Keeper, correct?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, of course, Albus," Arthur responded as he stood up with his wife to leave. "Is there anything else? I would like to get Molly home so she can rest and let all of this sink in," he added.

"No, I believe that is all, but I will inform you if anything comes up."

"Thank you for telling us," Arthur said. He and Molly exited to the room to head back to the Burrow.

"So Harry, just remember we have only been gone two weeks," Aberforth said while looking over at Harry.

"I know Abe, you've only said that at least ten times since we got back," Harry replied to the man that had become more than just a mentor over the past couple of weeks.

"Don't worry, Harry. I won't tell Albus, or anyone else, about where we have been or what we have done. It's up to you about whom and what you tell, but choose whom you inform wisely."

"Of course, thanks, Abe."

"I'll try to keep in contact, but I don't want many people to make a connection between us. Of course we both know Albus will figure it out, but I'm not going to make it easy for him."

"Alright, thanks. I'll see you around, Abe," Harry said as he waved goodbye to his older friend.

"Goodbye, Harry, and good luck," Aberforth replied. He watched the boy and thought about everything that had happened over the past two weeks between them. He was very different from when he had first found him in the wreckage of Privet Drive. Maybe the wizarding world now had hope.

Harry walked out of the Hog's Head; he could not figure out why Abe kept working that place. It was infamous for the type of people it attracted. No one of good stature or reputation would ever go there. After walking through Hogsmeade for a few minutes, he decided he could use a butterbeer. He had not had one since the last Hogsmeade weekend during the school year, and no one would complain about him being gone for an extra hour. No one would even recognize him until he spoke.

Harry walked up to the door and went into the crowded pub. After ordering a butterbeer, he found a small table in the corner where he could sit quietly and observe the pub while figuring out what he should do next. It was only a week until his birthday, and he had a lot to do before it.

Tonks had been wandering around Hogsmeade all day. It was her day to keep watch in the village for any sign of Harry. She kept both her eyes and ears out for any information on him, but it was to no avail. No one in the wizarding world had any information on the Boy Who Lived. Somehow, his disappearance had made its way to the _Daily Prophet_. All sorts of articles had been written about his disappearance. Some thought he had died, while some thought he had run away from Voldemort to America; others even had the audacity to suggest that he had joined Voldemort.

However, everyone in the Order knew that Voldemort did not have Harry, and Dumbledore knew he was alive due to the instruments he had. They just could not locate him. It was now a race, who could find Harry first?

'_I might as well go into the Three Broomsticks and get a drink; I'm not having any luck out here,'_ Tonks thought to herself. She walked over to the pub, ordered a butterbeer and found a secluded table from which she could watch the entire pub.

Not a moment later, she saw a boy, no, a man walk into the pub. He seemed young, but most likely old enough to be considered an adult. He was tall; probably a little over six feet tall. His hair was jet black and a little shy of reaching his shoulders. If it had been shorter, one would have been able to tell it was naturally messy. At its current length it was a bit shaggy. He had fair colored skin, not tan, but not pale. He wore a tight fitting black shirt that really accentuated his muscular upper body, and his dark blue jeans, which were loose, but not baggy. He held himself in a manor that was confident without being arrogant. He was self-assured, but he did not look like the type to cause much trouble.

'_Damn, he's a hottie. I wonder if he's got a girlfriend,'_ Tonks mused as she let out a quiet whistle.

He seemed oddly familiar to her. She knew that she should know who he was, but she could not place who he was or how she knew him. She would have to watch this man more closely.

When she heard him order a butterbeer, she almost jumped.

"NO! It couldn't be… could it?" she said aloud, thoroughly shocked. She had just thought to herself about how good-looking the man was. He looked to be only a few years younger than herself. _'That had to be Harry's voice! I may not have seen him in a while, but it's his, though it's quite a bit deeper,'_ she concluded in her head.

Sure enough, when the man turned around, she noticed the tip of his lightening bolt scar under his hair. If she had not been an Auror should probably would not have noticed it. Tonks decided that she would approach him after he got a table. A moment later he had settled himself into a table in the opposite corner of the pub, so she got up to make her way over to him.

"Harry?" she asked, standing in front of his table.

"Yeah, who are you?" he asked wearily.

"It's me, Tonks you dolt," she responded. Recognition dawned on his face, but someone else spoke up before he was able to respond.

"And why would you be looking for Mr. Potter here?" said an older blonde man interrupting the conversation, who had walked up to the two. His platinum white hair, which fell down to his shoulders, screamed Malfoy. "For he should concern no one but the Dark Lord," he finished.

Before Tonks could react, the man had fired a stunner at her.

"_**Never let the enemy catch you off guard! All's fair in love and war, so don't let them fire the first shot!" the man drilled into Harry. He had become accustomed to the man's lectures. "You let them get off the first shot, and you're fucked," the man continued. **_

'_Merlin, he sounds just like Moody except…American,'__** Harry mused silently.**_

_**Harry was standing stock still listening to the man lecture about fighting in general. He had met the man only two days earlier; he was to be his dueling instructor, an American Auror by the name of Jem Mathison. According to Aberforth, he was somewhat of a legend in America, equal to if not greater than Mad-Eye Moody in Britain.**_

"_**You don't want to be fucked now do you?" Jem asked.**_

"_**No, not particularly," Harry replied after pretending to think about it for a moment.**_

"_**I should hope not," he grinned back, pausing for a second before continuing with his lecture.**_

"_**What do you do when you see an enemy?" Jem shouted.**_

"_**Stun first, ask questions later!" Harry answered instantly.**_

"_**What do you do?" Jem shouted even louder.**_

"_**STUN FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER!" Harry screamed back.**_

"_**Good," Jem said, clapping his hands together. Before Harry could blink Jem had whipped out his wand and shot a Stinging Hex at him. Harry was caught in the arm as he had attempted to move out of the way, but he had not been quick enough.**_

"_**You need to watch your surroundings, and watch everyone. You never know who the enemy is and who just wants to fuck with you. There are very few people you will ever be able to fully trust, you will probably never know someone that you can," he instructed. "Who can you trust?" he asked loudly.**_

"_**No one!" Harry replied, though in the back of his brain he knew there was one person he could always trust. He was not sure why it was her, but he knew that he could no matter what.**_

"_**Good, now here's a scenario. You're on a date with the woman of your dreams." An unbidden image of Ginny popped into his head. "You're at an upstanding and very expensive restaurant, when in walks someone who you know is…let's just say not your favorite person to meet while you're on a date. You don't want to make a scene in front of her, but they're heading your way. When they get to your table, what do you do?"**_

'_Damn it, here I was just hoping to enjoy my butterbeer in peace,'_ Harry sighed. His right hand rested on his disillusioned holster, but he quickly changed his mind and removed his hand from it.

Harry recognized the man as Lucius Malfoy and jumped into action as soon as the stunner was shot. Harry jumped out of his chair, kicking the table at Lucius while nonverbally and wandlessly producing a shield around Tonks.

As soon as he had kicked the table at Malfoy, spells started coming from all around him. Lucius, not expecting the physical ploy, was struck with the table and thrown back a foot where he slowly picked himself up.

Earlier, Harry had noticed a group of men sitting at a table in the corner. All of them were dressed in darker clothes, not black per se, but it was close to it. _'Why didn't Tonks notice them? She could have been more discreet,_' Harry cursed Tonks silently.

Two bright green jets of light came from both sides of Harry and without a moment's hesitation he dropped to the ground, pulling Tonks down with him. While he shot a stunner at the man to his right with his right hand, he stuck out his left hand and quickly conjured two brick walls next to each other to take both of the Killing Curses. His stunner missed its mark, but it caused the Death Eater to stumble out of the way.

'_I need to lead them out of the pub, there will be more space to fight and hopefully no one will get hurt,'_ he thought to himself as he noticed the occupants of the pub starting to panic and trying to get away from the fight taking place in the corner. Harry was not able to count how many Death Eaters there were, but he knew there were at least five at the table he had seen when he walked in.

Harry sprang up from the ground while casting a Shield Charm to protect Tonks and himself. He pulled Tonks to her feet before firing off dual stunners at Lucius and making a dash for the doors of the pub to lure the Death Eaters outside. He chanced a backwards glance and saw eight Death Eaters, including Lucius, following him outside.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" shouted Lucius Malfoy, aiming his wand at Harry's back as soon as he was through the door.

Harry heard the spell being cast and banished Tonks to the side. At the same time he silently Apparated a foot behind Lucius.

"Hey Lucius, guess what?" Harry taunted at the same time he cast a Bone Breaking Hex aimed at Lucius' wand arm. Harry heard the man's arm snap in three separate places. Lucius dropped his wand while clutching his right arm in pain.

Harry raised his left hand into the air and a small tornado began to form in front of him. He directed the miniature tornado, towards a group of three Death Eaters. The Death Eaters were sucked into the violent vortex before they were hurled into a wall of a shop in the distance. They were knocked unconscious from the acceleration they had experienced inside the tornado.

At the same time, with a flick of his right wrist Harry flung one Death Eater into another that was in the middle of casting a Killing Curse at Harry. Tonks quickly shot off two stunners at the pair that were now crumpled in a heap. She had finally gotten over the shock of Harry dragging her out of the pub and saving her at least twice.

Harry was forced to drop and roll to the side in order to dodge a purple jet of light that was aimed for his chest.

'_Diffindo! Petrificus Totalus,'_ he thought as he aimed his right hand at the offending Death Eater. The man, or woman, was able to shield through the Cutting Curse, however he was caught off guard by the follow up spell.

Before he could stun the last Death Eater, the man had Apparated away in fear. Harry swore under his breath as he summoned the seven wands of the remaining Death Eaters and Portkeys on them. He snapped the wands and vanished the Portkeys before binding all the Death Eaters together and leaving them for the Aurors.

"Tell Dumbledore hello for me and that I'm back. I will be staying at the Dursleys' place if he wants to see me. But I'll only be there for two more days before I leave that place for good," Harry said to Tonks before Apparating off.

Tonks was stood there still in shock that Harry was able to shield her from the stunner, kick the table at Lucius, and pull her to the ground to avoid the Killing Curses, all in a matter of seconds.

None of that surprised her as much as Harry picking her up off the ground and pulling her with him through the door!

"_Avada Kedavra_!" she heard Lucius shout. As soon as the voice came she felt a power radiate from Harry's hand and push her off to the side, where she landed roughly on a patch of grass.

She looked over and Harry was gone, only to reappear behind Lucius and say something she couldn't quite make out. But what she saw was Lucius' arm snap in not one, but three different places.

Tonks then watched Harry take the other Death Eaters out using various spells. When she saw the two Death Eaters that were crumpled together attempt to get up, she stunned them.

However, when she saw him summon a tornado, by what looked like raising his hand to the sky, her jaw had dropped. She had never seen someone create a tornado, or summon one with a spell. It didn't even look like he spoke an incantation. The rest of the fight went by in a blur and she watched the last one Apparate away in fear.

Harry walked back to her and told her where he would be staying before Disapparating without a sound.

Tonks was amazed. No, she was flabbergasted! Not only was Harry a good eight inches taller than he had been just a month ago and more muscular than ever, but he had taken out seven fully-grown Death Eaters single handedly before the last one Apparated away. Then, to top it off, he could Apparate! He definitely could not do that at the Department of Mysteries.

Tonks looked down and saw something lying on the ground; it was a white bird, killed by a stray Killing Curse. To be precise, it was a dove.

"I've got to get to Dumbledore!" she exclaimed aloud. She quickly sent off a Patronus message to Kingsley before Apparating to Hogwarts' gate. She opened the gate up, and began running towards the castle.

"Thank you for that information Severus," Dumbledore said. "I'll try to—"

"Dumbledore!" Tonks interrupted, bursting through the door. "Oh, sorry sir, I didn't know you were having a meeting with him right now."

"It's quite alright Nymphadora," Tonks made a face when Dumbledore used her first name, "we were just finishing up. The rest can wait until you are finished."

Dumbledore magically locked his door. "Now what is it Tonks, you seemed rather frantic."

"It's about Harry! I saw him at the Three Broomsticks," she said quickly.

"And you just let him leave? Such incompetence, and from an Auror at that, to think that—"

"That's enough Severus," Dumbledore interrupted harshly. "Now tell me why Harry is not here with you."

"I saw him come in, although I didn't recognize him at first. He ordered a butterbeer and that was when I realized it was him. I walked to try and talk to him but we were interrupted." Tonks said.

"Interrupted?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Yes, Lucius and seven other Death Eaters interrupted us, quite rudely I might add. They attacked us, only one escaped," Tonks summarized. "And Harry did most of it. Oh, and he can Apparate," she added with a smug look at Snape's shocked expression.

"Impossible, Potter's an incompetent, pathetic excuse for a wizard! There is no way half of what you say is true. He cannot even—" Snape ranted, only to be cut off by Dumbledore.

"Severus," Dumbledore said sternly, glaring at the Potions master. Snape abruptly closed his mouth and sat down. Dumbledore asked. His thoughts were running a mile a minute as he tried to figure out if something was wrong with Tonks, or if what she said was true.

"I'd like to view your memory on this. I know you would not lie to me about this, but it all seems so implausible," Dumbledore said after thinking for a moment. _'If what she said is true, then Harry could be very powerful,'_ he thought to himself.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Tonks said as she reached for her wand to extract the memory for Dumbledore.

Quite a while later, Tonks and Dumbledore exited the memory. Dumbledore had not allowed Snape to view the memory, just in case Voldemort could somehow break into his mind. He gave her back the memory and she made to leave.

"Thank you Tonks. I'll be going to fetch him tomorrow then," Dumbledore informed her. "You have left me with quite a bit to think about."

"Your welcome, sir," Tonks replied as she left his office.

Harry Apparated into the middle of the Dursleys' kitchen and began pulling out some food from the fridge. After getting out everything he wanted, which included bacon, sausage, potatoes and eggs, he began frying it all up together.

Aunt Petunia screamed as she walked into the kitchen. She turned and ran straight back into the sitting room where she told Vernon what she saw. Vernon said something before he went into the hallway, opened a closet door and pulled out a baseball bat. Vernon, with Petunia close behind him, walked into the kitchen stealthily, although there was not much to be said about his "stealth". Not recognizing Harry, Vernon swung the baseball bat at his head. Harry, not even looking back, ducked to avoid the metal object speeding towards his skull.

"You know Uncle Vernon, I'm trying to cook right now," Harry said tiredly.

"YOU!" his uncle bellowed. "I was told you left with those freaks!" They had been obliviated and given a memory of Harry leaving with his friends, or "freaks" as Vernon referred to them.

"Well, I'm back now. And I would really appreciate it if you didn't interrupt my cooking by trying to kill me," Harry said sarcastically.

"Impossible," Petunia said. "You weren't this big when you left."

"Well," Harry started, unsure how to properly answer without giving too much away, settled for an answer that would be sure to tick off his relatives, "shit happens. Deal with it."

Vernon sputtered at Harry's insolence. "I will not have you using that kind of language in my house you freak!"

"I said shut up!" Harry said loudly, and with a flick of his wrist, Vernon could speak no more. "Now if you would be so kind as to let me eat in peace, I'll let you speak again." Vernon, who had turned a nasty shade of purple, reluctantly nodded. Harry lifted the Silencing Charm and got back to his food. Petunia and Vernon left the kitchen to go speak about their _nephew_.

Harry finished cooking, ate his food and then went up to his room to start his daily workout.

Harry was finishing his push-ups when his uncle came charging into the room. He had already done his sit-ups, pull-ups, triceps dips, one-legged squats, and stretched beforehand. He had conjured up a bar for his pull-ups.

"Two hundred forty-nine… two hundred and fifty." Harry counted out before sitting up.

"BOY!" his uncle yelled, forcing Harry's door open. "It's time for you to go paint the downstairs bathroom."

"How about no, Uncle Vernon?" Harry replied blankly. "I'm done doing chores for you. I've done more than all the rest of you put together these last fourteen years, and I'm tired of it. I think it's about time you lot started working around here."

"What's that boy? Talking back? I think that deserves a beating!"

Harry withdrew his wand from his front pocket. "I don't think so Vernon. I'm done taking shit from you."

"Haha boy, you and I both know you can't use your little stick here! You'll be expelled!"

"Really? Well I don't need a wand in the first place," Harry said, casually flicking his left hand. Vernon was launched back through the door, then it shut and locked itself.

"BOY!" Harry heard his uncle through the door. "OPEN THIS DOOR NOW! IF YOU DON'T THEN WHEN YOU COME OUT I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR UNGRATEFUL ASS!"

"Now, now Uncle Vernon," Harry said unlocking the door, "you have to play nicely or you're going to get a time out."

"Boy, you aren't one to be threatening anyone around here," Vernon said, swinging blindly at Harry's head. Harry put one hand up, and when Vernon's hand got close enough, he was flung back towards the wall.

"You see, Uncle Vernon, if you don't play nicely then bad things happen. I'm going for a run, and when I come back you better be on a bit better behavior."

"Some of you may be wondering why I called another meeting today, seeing as how our last meeting was only four hours ago," Dumbledore began. "Well, our previous meeting was to let you know that we couldn't find Harry. This meeting is to let you know that we have found him. I'll let Tonks give all of the details on how he was found, and what happened after he was."

"Well," Tonks said nervously, "I was in Hogsmeade after our meeting this morning and decided to stop into the Three Broomsticks for a dri—I mean to see if I could find any information on Harry and after I sat down with a drink, Harry walked into the pub."

"I walked over to him and asked if it was him, he has changed so much since anyone has seen him last."

"What do you mean by he changed?" said the tall black man from the earlier meeting.

"Well Kingsley I mean that he is taller, stronger and he seems older. Okay where was I? Well to make a long story short, after I approached him we were attacked by eight Death Eaters."

"NO! Not Harry! Is he okay?" Mrs. Weasley screamed out.

"Yes Molly, he is fine," Tonks continued. "Actually, he is better than fine. Harry fought off all eight Death Eaters single handedly, before Apparating back to the Dursleys' house. Oh, and might I add, he did this all wandlessly. I don't think he was scratched."

"Yes," Dumbledore continued, ignoring the fact that everyone was in shock over Harry's sudden skill in Apparition and wandless magic. "And that is where I will be headed in a bit to talk to him about what happened. The only problem is this: what do we do with him now?"

"What do you mean what do we do with him?" Mrs. Weasley questioned. "Of course he is to come to the Burrow!"

"The Burrow will not be safe until the Fidelius Charm has been cast."

"What do you mean not safe? You said you would be casting it two days from now, so I don't see what's the matter with having him stay at the Burrow…" Molly trailed off.

"Besides," Arthur said suddenly, "it sounds like he could watch out for himself after what happened this morning, and he would probably keep us a bit safer what with the new prophecy and all."

"Fine," Dumbledore sighed. "I'll think it over tonight, and have a decision for you all tomorrow."

"Oh!" Tonks exclaimed, remembering the earlier incident. "There was one thing I left out earlier, you didn't see it in the memory."

"What is it?" Dumbledore asked, peering over his half-moon spectacles.

"A bird, I found a dead bird earlier, it must have been accidentally killed by a stray Killing Curse. We're lucky it was the only casualty."

"What type of bird was it?"

"A dove, I believe"

"It was no accident that the dove was killed."

"It wasn't? But who would kill a dove?"

"It wasn't so much the dove that was killed. It is a sign, don't you see? Doves symbolize peace; the time of peace is no more, the war has officially begun. Voldemort was only hiding and preparing this past year. Why do you think there were very few attacks?"

Dumbledore let out a long drawn sigh. He had been waiting for the moment that Voldemort would come out of hiding, and return to spreading panic and chaos amongst both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds alike. He would have to speak with Harry at length tomorrow.

"My lord, the boy surprised us. He reacted before any of us could realize what was happening. He—"

The man was cut off as a high-pitched voice screamed "_Crucio!"_ The man withered in pain, emitting screams of agony from the cold dirt ground.

"Do not give me excuses, Roland. There is no excuse for failing to capture or kill a sixteen-year-old boy!" Voldemort screamed as he put more anger into the Cruciatus Curse. He released Roland a moment later before expecting a real explanation this time.

"I'm sorry, my Lord, but the boy, he is different. We did not recognize him until he spoke. He is much taller and muscular. He looks…older," the man spoke nervously. He feared the Dark Lord's anger more than anything, and he attempted to choose his words carefully.

"Do not lie to me!" Voldemort hissed menacingly. Roland cringed at the sound, but did not attempt to back away. Any show of fear would only invoke more pain for him.

"I a-am not l-lying to you, my lord," he stammered. "The boy has changed. He was agile when he moved!" he said quickly. An uncomfortable silence fell over the graveyard.

"How do seven recruits, and one senior Death Eater," Voldemort started quietly. "FAIL TO CAPTURE ONE BOY?" he finished in a scream that pierced the now forgotten silence. He pulled an empty vial out of his cloak and brandished his wand in front of the now quivering Death Eater.

"Give me your memory of the fight," Voldemort spat. When the man did not respond, he added, "Now! Or I shall do away with you to be rid of your incompetence."

The man quickly drew up his memory of the fight and told Voldemort he was ready. The Dark Lord quickly took the memory from the man and placed it in the vial.

"Leave now before I decide to kill you." The man scrambled to his feet and without sparing another glance at Voldemort, Disapparated from the graveyard.

A short while later Voldemort was inside the old mansion, once again pulling out his Pensieve. He poured the contents of the vial into it, and began to stir it with his wand. He placed his hand into the basin, and felt himself falling into the memory. He watched in interest and disgust as the battle took place.

'_How could Harry Potter and his Auror friend have taken seven of his Death Eaters?'_ he thought, disgusted with his so-called 'followers'. He would have to form a new training plan for them; they obviously were not cutting it if they were losing to a sixteen-year-old boy.

However, another thought crossed his mind that was more important. Should he change his plans with the girl? He had very little time to decide before he had to act upon it. He knew that Dumbledore had learned of the prophecy concerning the Weasley girl, and the foolish old wizard would most likely do something about that rather soon.

Dumbledore had a lot on his mind; he truly did not know what he wanted to do. On the one hand, he wanted to protect Harry, keep him hidden from the dangers of the world, hoping to let him grow up like a normal child. Yet he knew that would not work, Harry had already been through more than most everyone else. So why not just train Harry up and teach him what he will need to be victorious, or at least stay alive. But he knew that would not work either, there had to be a middle ground. Perhaps he could give Harry a bit freer rein? He had heard what Harry was now capable of; why not give him a bit more free time to play with his power? He could give him a free class period, or put him in a higher defense class. However, all of that could wait, for now he needed to figure out what to do with Harry over the summer.

'_I can't leave Harry here, Merlin knows what would happen if I did,'_ he thought. Already in Harry's first week home the Dursleys had all nearly died. If anything like that were to happen again, Harry would be in trouble for sure. But if Harry went to the Burrow he would be placing the Weasleys in danger. It would not be safe for him, no matter how many precautions they took. This new prophecy complicated too many things. _'But that's not fair. If it's safe for the Weasleys, especially Ginevra, why wouldn't it be safe for Harry?' _It was just different with Harry, and everyone knew it. Even so, he knew the Burrow was the best place for Harry, and that's where he would be going. It was time to go to Harry and talk to him about where he had been, and where he was going. With those final thoughts, Dumbledore Apparated to the front porch of Number 4 Privet Drive to talk to Harry.

When Dumbledore reappeared he looked at the house, he hadn't been there since the night he left Harry on the very porch on which he was standing. It was still the same. It was the same color; they had the same lawn, even the same plants in their garden. The difference this time was that Dumbledore knew what the Dursleys were like. If he could go back, he would not have left Harry on their doorstep. No matter how much the wards that surrounded it would protect him, it was a terrible place for Harry and he should not have had to suffer that fate.

'_Enough about the past,'_ he thought, before pressing their doorbell.

"Who is it?" said a woman while opening the door.

"Hello Petunia, it is I, Albus Dumbledore," he said, smiling at the woman before him.

"Dumble— oh!" she squeaked, closing the door quickly.

"Petunia dear, do not make me open this door myself. I am merely here to speak with Harry."

"Alright, just stay away from my Dudders!" she said, opening the door for him fearfully.

Dumbledore walked in, looking at all of the pictures lining the walls. He noticed how not a single one was of Harry, not even in the background of any pictures.

"Why isn't Harry in any of these?" he asked Petunia.

"We never took any of Harry, why would we?" she replied.

"When I brought him here, I told you in my letter to treat him as your own. I know you have never done that. For one, I have had to hear from his friend's mother about how underfed he looks, and how defeated he looks. Secondly, if he was treated like one of your children I wouldn't be here right now." Dumbledore said harshly.

"What do you mean?" Petunia replied, not remembering the incident where her house was nearly destroyed due to the memory charms that had been placed upon her.

"Don't worry about it; that is neither here nor there," he replied while walking towards the stairs.

As Dumbledore walked up the stairs his thoughts took over, and he began climbing more and more slowly. _'What state will the boy be in? He went home in a broken state. His life is devoid of any innocence he had left. The boy has been through a lot, and the last time we spoke he destroyed half of my office,'_ Dumbledore thought with a twinge of guilt for having left Harry at the Dursleys.

Dumbledore had hoped that the summer would give Harry time to think about what was going on and time to come to terms with what happened. Apparently that had been a mistake. Nothing of the sort had happened; Harry was on his own in a home full of hatred towards him. How could he have sent him back?

By this time, Dumbledore had stopped at the top step and had had an ingenious thought. Putting a Disillusionment Charm on, he walked quietly down the hall looking for Dudley's room. He found the door open, and within the room was an enormous boy playing on a computer. The boy looked like he didn't have a care in the world and was treated like a king. All around him were Muggle sweet wrappers and soda cans. He didn't bother to clean up, most likely knowing that someone would come clean it for him. All around him there were toys, games and random little trinkets belonging to the boy. He knew Harry had never owned anything like that and the thought made him sad.

Walking away from the boy's room, he decided to go listen in to what Vernon and Petunia were discussing, but what he heard did not sit well with him.

"Petunia, I'm getting tired of the boy! I think it's time to throw him out on his ass where he belongs!" Vernon yelled.

"But we can't, he has to stay here!" Petunia argued.

"He hasn't done anything since he came back. Not since he learned to do– to do, magic without that stick or being caught. He doesn't do chores; he doesn't come out of his room and on top of all that he eats whenever he likes!" Vernon yelled, getting angrier.

"But we agreed, we said we would take him in for the full seventeen years. If we kick him out now we would be in just as much danger as he is!"

"Bullshit woman! You and I both know there is nothing coming for us!"

"But… but the letter said…"

"I don't give a damn about some bloody letter! Stop defending the boy, it's not like you love him or anything!"

"But Vernon, be reasonable!"

"Reason with this, this is my house and I make all the rules!"

"NO! Vernon please! Think about the—"

At this point, Vernon drew his hand back and made to slap her.

Dumbledore raised his wand and conjured a silver shield in front of Petunia. Vernon's hand struck the shield with a loud 'Clang!' and he pulled back quickly, nursing his hand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, revealing himself by removing the Disillusionment Charm.

"Who the bloody hell are you? And what are you doing in my house?" Vernon yelled, standing up angrily.

"I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Dumbledore said, drawing himself up to his full height.

"No! No, no, no!" Vernon said, stomping his foot very much like a five-year-old. "I will not allow you into my house! You are not welcome, leave now!"

"Alas my dear man, your wife has already opened your house to me." At this, Petunia began to shrink away from Vernon.

"YOU!" Vernon yelled, walking towards Petunia. "You let him into our house! You're as bad as them! I want you out too!"

"Vernon! Calm yourself. I am merely here to speak with Harry."

"Then what the bloody hell are you doing in my kitchen!"

"I am merely here to prevent you from doing something very foolish. Harsh times are ahead of us, it is in your best interest to keep the protection around you."

"What harsh times? You said that Voldywhatshisthingy was gone!"

"Yes. He was gone, but I am afraid that he has returned."

A gasp came from Petunia and all eyes turned to her.

"He, he's back? The one that…that…that killed my sister?" she asked in a whisper.

"Yes. Voldemort has returned. And there have already been four attacks upon Harry. There was one a little over a year ago and the summer before his previous year. I believe you remember when Harry and Dudley were attacked by the Dementors?" Vernon and Petunia nodded at this, but did not say anything.

"There was another attack on Harry this morning, and one just before this summer began."

"That's it! I want the boy out right now! You see the trouble he brings. Our house will be destroyed next! Next time it will be us that are killed by that lunatic! All because of that damn boy!"

"If you send him away, you would be in just as much danger. I'll let you think on that while I go and talk to Harry." Dumbledore said, returning to the stairway. When he made it to Harry's door, he knocked lightly on it.

"Come in," he heard from within.

When he walked into the room, he was shocked to see a man almost his own height and very muscular. He had always heard about and seen Harry in old clothes, hand me downs and clothes that were ripped and torn in places. It was very shocking to see Harry with new clothes on which fit him in a way that accented his new muscular figure. Gone was Harry's usual messy hair, replaced by a longer hairstyle. While still shaggy, it did not have its natural messiness. He now had hair that just looked ruffled or windswept and it reached almost to his shoulder. It suited him very well, Dumbledore decided.

A new addition that no one else had seen was that Harry's eyes were no longer hidden by glasses, but his strikingly green eyes were set free and shone brightly for all to see. Dumbledore's jaw nearly dropped as he stepped into the room.

"Is something wrong, Professor?" Harry asked, standing up and moving away from what looked like an open Transfiguration book. "I was just finishing up my summer homework.

"Ha—Harry, what happened? You have changed so much in the last two weeks." Dumbledore said, clearly shocked by how much had changed.

"Well, it's nothing really. It was just a growth spurt." Harry said somewhat nervously.

"I doubt even your friend Mr. Weasley has grown this much," Dumbledore said amazedly. "And what about your glasses, why aren't you wearing them?"

"Well, in the two weeks I was gone, I came across a man who knew a spell that could repair eyesight."

"Really? I have never heard of such a spell."

"He had invented it himself, he… erm, had been trying to figure out how he could get rid of his glasses permanently."

"Most interesting. I myself find my glasses to be a feature that marks my wisdom. No matter, to each his own."

"Yes, to each his own. Now what is it you wanted to speak about?"

"Come now Harry, I am sure you should know why I am here." Dumbledore finally took the time to avert his gaze from Harry and look around the room. What shocked him was that it was an almost exact replica of the Gryffindor dormitory, smaller yes, but it was much larger than the room should have been. Harry had been sitting at a mahogany desk in what looked to be a very comfortable red and gold chair. There was a couch in the corner of the same colors and an exact replica of the Gryffindor four-poster beds in the other corner. Hedwig's empty cage was next to the closed window. The walls of the room were in the same red and gold wallpaper as Harry's dormitory.

"Nope, I really don't know. All I did was blow up my house, nearly kill my family, and disappear for two weeks. Oh and I suppose you could question how this decoration came about."

"And you also went through an extreme growth spurt. That is highly unusual."

"So can we just get to the crux of this already?" Harry said in an agitated sort of way. He wanted to be done with Dumbledore's questioning so he could find out if he would be allowed to leave, or if he would have to leave without the man's permission.

"Alright Harry, fine," Dumbledore said, quite annoyed at Harry's indifference towards the matter at hand. "You came home after a horrible ordeal at the end of the school year and nearly killed your family by blowing up their house. I know you did this because your Aunt Marge was here and I really don't need the details about what happened, but what I do need to know is where you disappeared to Harry."

"Well sir, honestly I just needed to get away for a while and to think and adapt to what happened, nothing more and nothing less. Is that a problem, sir?"

"No Harry, it is not except that Voldemort is out and about now. But please, the next time you decide to blow up a house and leave, please tell someone," Dumbledore said with a slight upward twitch of his mouth, "But I believe there is more to the story than you're letting on. And please leave the fighting to the Order. I saw what you did, but to be honest those were merely recruits, with the exception of Lucius," he added, giving Harry a piercing gaze. Harry felt a brush against his mental defenses and knew instantly that Dumbledore was trying to figure out where he had been when he had disappeared. When Harry pushed back, Dumbledore instantly exited his mind. A look of curiosity and shock was written across his face.

'_How has the boy learned Occlumency in two weeks?'_ Dumbledore asked himself. He was fairly certain that Harry had not previously been able to block out, let alone recognize any faint attempts to view his thoughts.

"Wrong move, Professor," Harry said coldly. He was angered that Dumbledore would attempt to break into his mind. It was his private space, not something the old man should be able to look into whenever he so pleased. Even if the attempt had been faint, he had still tried. He would have thought better of the old man, but apparently, Dumbledore really did not care about Harry's privacy. He added another mental note to his list of everything Dumbledore had done wrong lately.

"My apologies, Harry. I let my curiosity get the better of me," Dumbledore said, almost sincerely. He really wanted an answer to where Harry had been off to, but it did not look like it would present itself.

"Whatever, _sir_." Harry replied, slowly calming himself down after having noticed a slight increase of speed in the air around him.

"And what about this sudden growth spurt, Harry? Tell me about that," Dumbledore inquired. It was not possible for anyone to have grown eight inches in only two weeks. No potion could produce lasting effects of that nature.

"There is nothing to tell sir. In the two weeks you lot couldn't find me I grew quite a bit," Harry replied indifferently. He knew Dumbledore would never believe him, but that did not matter.

"And all of this muscle you have gained? And your hair, I'm sure it did not grow that fast."

"Well sir, let's just say I worked out quite a bit. And the hair you ask? I have always had some control of it. When I was younger my aunt would cut my hair really short, or shave it off completely, and I would hate it. By the next morning it would be fully grown out to where it was before. I must have been subconsciously growing it. I thought that maybe if I focused on how long I want my hair, then I would be able to lengthen it. Let's just say that that worked."

"Well Harry—" Dumbledore started, a tapping at the window interrupted him.

"Sorry sir," Harry said, walking over to the window. He recognized the owl as Ron's, but the handwriting on the letter was from Ginny. "It's just a letter from Ginny."

"That's quite alright. Have you gotten any letters from young Mr. Weasley or Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked with his usual twinkle in his eyes.

"No, not since before I left," Harry replied, which made the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes even more pronounced.

"Well Harry," Dumbledore said looking at his watch, "it seems that young Ginevra's letter came at just the right time. I have to be going now. You shall be able to go to the Burrow tomorrow."

"Alright sir, thank you."

"Oh, one more thing, the day you disappeared a new prophecy came to my attention. It was given by Sybill Trelawney in the presence of Lord Voldemort and Professor Snape. Severus gave me the memory to view. And to be frank with you, it involves three people," Dumbledore said while gazing out the window.

"Who does it involve, sir?"

"You, Lord Voldemort, and young Ginevra."

"Ginny? What's Ginny have to do with this?" Harry asked, thoroughly confused and frightened for his friend. Why would Ginny be in a prophecy concerning Voldemort and himself?

"I'll let the prophecy speak for itself. I'd show you the memory, but I don't exactly have my Pensieve with me. I will recite it in its entirety for you."

Dumbledore recited the prophecy with his eyes closed. Harry sat in stunned silence as he soaked in what Dumbledore told him. _'No, Ginny can't be in danger! I won't let her get hurt!'_ Harry promised himself.

"And you're positive this 'Seventh of Seven', as it says, is Ginny?" Harry asked slowly.

"We're as sure as we're going to get. There have been no other girls born to a family of seven in seven generations," Dumbledore answered.

"So, what does this mean?"

"It means I will be placing the Burrow under the Fidelius Charm in order to protect Ginevra," Dumbledore explained. "However, Severus has informed me he needs to speak with me tomorrow. He said it was urgent and that it would most of the day, so I most shall not be able to cast it tomorrow. I would like you to inform Mrs. Weasley when you arrive that I shall be casting it the day after tomorrow and that her husband will need to be home for it."

"I will tell her that. But I really think you should just cast it tomorrow and tell Snape to keep his knickers on. Whatever it is can't be more important than Ginny or the Weasleys' safety. I see a problem with your thinking about the prophecy. It says that I have to save her, and _then_ we will have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. So theoretically doesn't she _have_ to be taken?" Harry asked slowly as he thought carefully about this new prophecy. "Not that I want her to be taken," he added hastily.

"I have thought long and hard about this, and my conclusion is that if nothing happens, then the prophecy is not true. It is only true if the first action is taken, and that would be the Death Eaters coming after Ginevra. As long as they do not do that, then according to the prophecy concerning only you and Voldemort, you should have the power to vanquish him yourself," Dumbledore explained. "I would ask Severus to wait, but he said it was of the utmost importance. And it is your opinion on the safety of Ginevra and the Weasleys. There are other matters that are more important than the lives of a few. I wish it were not so, but at this time it is," Dumbledore added sadly. He did not want to place anyone at risk, but certain matters were more important than others.

"I see… And you're positive about that?" Harry asked. He did not like the old man's thinking sometimes. This seemed reasonable, but he did not want to take any chances with Ginny's safety. She had started to become a good friend to him, and he would never let anyone be in danger, especially the Weasley family. They had done so much for him. _'Besides, why would Snape want to see Dumbledore on the day he was to cast the Fidelius Charm?'_ Harry questioned.

"I am as sure as one can be, given the situation."

Harry nodded silently. There was not much else he could do…Unless…

"I believe that is all if you have nothing else you wish to discuss," Dumbledore said.

"One last thing, if you will. I would like to train Ginny. I don't trust this prophecy, even if it does not come to pass. It would always be useful for her to have training," Harry said seriously.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that. I do not know where you have been or how you learned to fight. Secondly, I doubt Arthur and Molly would want their daughter training for lack of a better term… war."

"I don't care if they don't like it. I will not let one of my friends be harmed by Voldemort!" Harry said forcefully.

"I'm sorry Harry, but I can't allow you to train her," Dumbledore said resolutely.

"Fine," Harry spat, "but if anything happens to Ginny because of this, I am holding you personally responsible," Harry told him. His voice was not cold, but it projected a certain tone to the old wizard that sent a chill down his spine because he knew Harry was telling the truth.

"And, if this prophecy does come true. I _will_ train her. I don't care what anyone else says, unless she tells me herself that she does not want to be trained," Harry said forcefully. Power seemed to radiate out of him. It projected Harry's confidence and strength.

"I do not know about that, but we will cross that bridge when the time comes," Dumbledore said, giving the safest answer he could without crossing Harry or the Weasleys.

"Very well, goodbye Professor," Harry replied somewhat snappishly.

"Goodbye Harry. Someone will come by tomorrow to pick you up."

Dumbledore bowed and left the room. He sighed after he shut the door behind him. Harry had changed, a lot. Not only had he had an amazing growth spurt, but power seemed to radiate off of him. He was a different boy; no, he was more of a man than a boy now. Dumbledore would figure out the new mystery of Harry Potter another day. He had Order business he needed to finish before he spoke with Severus at length tomorrow. As he was walking towards the front door, he heard a cough from behind him.

"The boy can stay," he heard Vernon Dursley say.

"Thank you. However, he will be leaving the day after tomorrow for a friend's house for the rest of the summer," Dumbledore said, before walking out the door and Apparating away.

Harry turned away from the closing door and sat down in the armchair to read Ginny's letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_I heard that they found you today, but I'm sure that in all likelihood you probably found them. They were looking for two weeks and couldn't find you! What are you trying to pull? You had me so worried Harry, promise me you will never do something like that again!_

_So, where have you been and what have you been doing? Mum's been in a right state with you missing and so has most of the Order from what Dad said. Ron and Hermione have been worried sick too. Ron was going on about you going off to fight Voldemort or something. Hermione thought you had run away because of Sirius and everything. I hope you're doing better on that front._

_Ron would have sent you a letter, but he was out flying when Mum got home, so I got my letter done and sent it off. He should have one for you by tomorrow if he isn't too busy with Hermione. Thankfully, he's almost completely forgotten about Dean. He hasn't bugged me once about seeing him. Though Dean himself is being a piece of work lately. He doesn't understand that I was worried about you being missing. He just shrugged it off and got annoyed at me for being worried about you._

_Mum said Dumbledore was thinking of letting you come to the Burrow. I hope I get to see you soon Harry, we all miss you a lot! Hopefully Dumbledore will let you come and stay with us soon._

_Do you know how to swim? The weather has been nice and I've been down at the pond almost every day swimming. You should come with me; maybe we can drag Ron away from his letters to Hermione. He's planning to visit her soon. Apparently her parents didn't drag her off anywhere for vacation._

_It's been so lonely here, I can't wait to see you._

_See you soon Harry,_

_Love,_

_Ginny_

Ginny was a new mystery to him. They were friends, but he barely knew her and he already felt close to her. The other thing that confused him was his feelings. When he had read 'Love, Ginny' his stomach had fluttered for a moment and he had felt, well, happy. He had first noticed it when he had read the first letter he had received from her. He had not paid much attention to it, and he had not had much time to think about her letters while he was away. He had had other things on his mind at the time. He was not sure why, but he liked it when Ginny signed her letters like that.

Harry realized he had actually missed his friends more than he had realized, especially Ginny. He did not know why he missed her. They had not talked all that much in the past years, except the recent letters. Maybe fighting together in the Department of Mysteries had made him grow fond of her. Or perhaps it was his time away from Privet Drive, which was a lot longer than anyone but he, Abe, and couple other people knew about. He knew he needed to be close to her now anyways because of the prophecy; not that he didn't mind being close to her in the first place.

'_I wonder if she knows about it yet,'_ he thought. _'She'd better know about it. I destroyed half of Dumbledore's office when I learned about the prophecy concerning me, and I don't even have half the temper she does. She'll probably blow up the Burrow or something.'_

Harry sat contemplating Ginny and his own thoughts until he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Harry woke up and realized he had never replied to Ginny's letter. 'Oh well,' he thought, he would get to it after he did his daily workout routine. Harry went downstairs to eat some breakfast and then did his morning workout, consisting of five hundred sit-ups, two hundred and fifty push-ups, one hundred pull-ups and triceps dips, and one hundred one-legged squats on each leg. After working out he took a shower and then sat down to write a reply to Ginny before he went down to grab some food.

_Dear Ginny,_

_First of all, let me tell you how glad I was to receive your letter so soon. I missed writing to you while I was gone. Now let me apologize for not writing back to you. I was being a prat and wallowing in my own misery. At the time I read it, it had been later at night and I was tired. Otherwise, I would have written back right away. Then one thing led to another and I was no longer at Privet Drive and you know the rest, more or less. I really enjoyed your letter and I hope we can become good friends. I know we had never talked much in the past, but I hope we can change that._

_Secondly, I'd like to apologize for disappearing for two weeks. I didn't mean to scare anyone; I just needed some time to adjust to things. I really didn't know that I would be gone for so long. I missed all of you more than you could ever know._

_I'm sorry about Dean, he was always cool to be around at school. I don't know why he's being such a git. But anyways, I know you can take care of yourself if he gets to be too much trouble, though leave some for me if that happens._

_I realized I have pictures of both Ron and Hermione, but none of you. I need to change that, so would you mind sending me one or giving me one once I arrive?_

_Dumbledore came by yesterday, and said I would be able to leave for the Burrow tomorrow. I can't wait to see everyone again. It feels like ages since I've seen everyone. Of course I would love to go swimming at the pond once I get there._

_Now that that is all out of the way, how are you? How is your summer going so far, other than worrying about where I have disappeared off to?_

_Well, here's to hoping to see you soon!_

_Yours,_

_Harry_

Harry was surprised to see someone walk into his room and nearly fell off his chair. At once he recognized Tonks from the previous morning.

"Oh, hi Tonks," he said standing up.

"Wotcher Harry," she said with a bright smile. "Dumbledore wanted me to tell you when you would be leaving tomorrow. I'll be taking you, not that you really need anyone to take you or anything."

"Okay, Tonks. Well, when exactly did Dumbledore say I could leave?"

"He said that I could come and pick you up tomorrow afternoon and take you to the Burrow."

"Alright, that works."

"Yeah, I guess it does. Mind if I keep you company for a bit? Oh, and by the way I like what you've done to this room," Tonks said as she gestured to the smaller replica of the Gryffindor dormitories.

"Thanks, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to around here." At this comment, Hedwig fluttered in through the window and gave an indignant hoot. Both Harry and Tonks burst into laughter.

"So Harry, what were you working on when I came in, summer work?" Tonks asked peering over at his paper.

"Erm, just a letter," Harry said with a reddish tint to his face.

"_Yours, Harry_," she read from the bottom of the parchment. "Aww, does little Harry have a crush on some little girlie?"

"No! Definitely not!" Harry almost screamed, his face getting very red. "And I don't think I'm exactly little anymore," he added not as loudly.

"True. Is that Ginny at the top of the letter? You have a crush on Ginny!" Tonks screamed out, nearly jumping.

All of a sudden the door burst open and Vernon walked into the room.

"BOY! I'm tired of all the noise in here! Shut up now before I lock you in that damned cupboard!" he yelled, clearly pissed off.

"You know, Uncle Vernon, you really shouldn't talk like that in front of such an impressionable lady," Harry said in a polite manner. "I may just have to do something about you."

"You'll do nothing boy! I'll—" Harry raised his hand and Vernon flew out of the door and the door locked itself magically. Harry then put a silencing spell around his room.

"Sorry about him Tonks, he's rather annoying at times." Harry said with a faint blush.

"That's okay, you seem to have it taken care of. So, where were we? Oh yeah! You have a crush on Ginny!" Tonks chanted the last part. "You have a crush on Ginny!"

"Do not!" Harry shouted at her. His face was growing hotter every time she said it. Although, when he thought about it, there was not much he didn't like about Ginny. Her long, fiery red hair that flowed down her back to just above her waist, and her sparkling, chocolate brown eyes came to mind almost instantly. _'Where did that thought come from?' _he wondered. He quickly pushed that thought aside and returned his attention to the somewhat crazy girl in front of him.

"Tonks, are you sure you should be out of the Mental Ward at St. Mungo's this early?" Harry asked.

"Git!" Tonks yelled as she punched him playfully in the shoulder. "Ouch!" she yelped, holding her hand. "What the hell is your shoulder made of?" she asked while glaring at him.

"Oh, I don't know? Muscle maybe?" Harry grinned.

"You're a git you know that? Why the hell would I be in the Mental Ward? I'm as normal as they come," Tonks said with a huge smile, as she changed her nose into a pig's snout and back.

"Oh, that's normal all right," Harry said sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, to each his own. Or her own in my case," Tonks said with a grin. "So, where have you been these past two weeks? You've had everyone worried sick!"

"You know, out and about," Harry replied, hoping that that explanation would settle what Tonks wanted to know. "Sorry for worrying everyone though."

"Right, out and about does _that_ to you," Tonks replied sarcastically, gesturing to Harry's body.

"Erm…okay so I was doing things," Harry compromised.

"Things?" Tonks asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I just needed to get away for a while. To think and adapt to what happened," Harry said, giving her the same explanation he gave to Dumbledore.

"Fine, if you don't want to tell me then just say so," Tonks said exasperatedly.

"Nope, not really," Harry smirked.

"Git," Tonks muttered.

"I resent that you know. And, where's my thank you for saving you yesterday?" Harry asked jokingly.

"You want a thank you, do you?" Tonks replied. "How's this?" she said as she kissed him on the cheek.

"Not exactly what I was looking for," Harry replied a bit pink in face.

"Why not? You're like the little brother I never had!" Tonks said indignantly.

"Oh, well I was hoping for some bowing and you know, some groveling," Harry grinned. "I don't know if it would be very pleasant to have you as a sister…"

Tonks glared at him, before she got on her hands and knees to pretend to grovel.

"Oh thank you for saving me, Lord Harry. Thank you," Tonks groveled sarcastically.

"Excellent."

Harry and Tonks chatted for most of the afternoon about different things. Tonks filled him in a bit on some of what had been happening in the Order, but Voldemort had not been up to anything new according to Snape, other than searching for Harry. It was late in the afternoon before Tonks got up to leave.

"I better let you get packed. I'll be here at one o'clock, tomorrow afternoon, to take you to the Burrow. Make sure you're packed," Tonks informed him.

"Alright, thanks for keeping me company; it wasn't so dull for once. Though I'm sure I could find something to do to my relatives."

"Anytime, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go bug Remus," Tonks said as she left the room.

Harry turned back to his room and realized he had not sent Ginny's letter off. He quickly rolled it up and attached it to Hedwig's leg before she took off out the window. A check of the clock revealed it was almost five. He figured he should have time enough to visit Gringotts before it became too late.

He quickly grabbed a jacket and put on his trainers before hurrying downstairs. However, he was not able to get to the door as he had planned for Uncle Vernon was standing a short ways from the bottom of the stairs.

"BOY! I may be letting you stay in this house until tomorrow, but I've had enough of your freakish friends visiting. There will be no more of it, do you hear?" Vernon practically yelled at Harry.

"Well, since it's already five and I'll be leaving at one tomorrow, the only visit you should be getting from them is when I get picked up," Harry said, before adding, "Though I could do with some female company tonight. I'll make some calls and then let you know, how's that sound?" Harry said. He winked at his uncle before walking past him towards the door. He was about to grab the doorknob when he felt a hand on his shoulder tugging him backwards.

"Never. Touch. Me. Again." Harry said coldly as he grabbed his uncle's beefy hand and twisted it counterclockwise. His uncle immediately pulled back his hand in pain from having it twisted in a direction that it was never meant to be twisted in. Before his uncle could say anything Harry yanked open the front door and Disapparated without a sound.

"I swear, if I ever see him after tomorrow… Freaks in my house ever again… The nerve of him to say he's going to make some calls…" his uncle muttered as he shut the door and turned back to go back into the living room to watch the tele.

Harry appeared in the Leaky Cauldron a moment later. He nodded towards the barman, Tom, before heading to the door leading to Diagon Alley. After tapping the correct sequence of bricks to get in, he headed over to Gringotts. He needed to take care of some financial business that Dumbledore had never told him about and pick up some money for a few purchases he needed to make. Luckily, Abe had informed him that he should visit Gringotts.

As he walked down Diagon Alley, he attracted quite a few stares from the younger witches. That's not to say the older witches did not look, he just made it a point to ignore them. He realized that he had forgotten to put glamour charms on to avoid the stares; it had completely skipped his mind due to his uncle being a git.

'_Too late now,'_ he cursed himself silently for forgetting, _'I guess it's best that they know that they know I didn't die or join Voldemort.'_

He quickly made his way to Gringotts, but by the time he got there a few reporters had already taken quite a few pictures of him. Thankfully, the goblins would not let the reporters enter Gringotts after him. Harry made his way to the front counter of a free goblin, who was counting gold. The goblin did not immediately look up; instead he kept counting the gold. A few moments later the goblin looked up and asked, "What do you need?"

"I'd like to speak with someone in the Family Vaults and Finances Department."

"Name?" the goblin asked curtly.

"Harry Potter."

"Griphook!" the goblin yelled.

"Yes?" another goblin asked. Harry recognized him as the goblin that had taken him down to his vault before his first year.

"Go see if Raganor is seeing anyone at the moment. If he is not busy tell him Mr. Harry Potter would like to see him," the goblin ordered.

"Yes, sir," Griphook said before hurrying off towards a set of doors at the far end of the large bank. He entered the doors and did not come out for a few minutes. When he finally came out of the doors another goblin came out behind him. This one was dressed in what appeared to be fancy clothes, for a goblin anyway.

The goblin at the counter stared over at Griphook and the fancy pants goblin, he was utterly speechless. He had never before seen someone as important as Raganor come out to actually meet a customer.

"Well, it seems he's come out to meet you himself. Go on over," the goblin told Harry after regaining his ability to vocalize.

Harry walked over to the two, and met them half way across the lobby.

"If you will follow me, Mr. Potter," the goblin said, that Harry assumed was Raganor. "Griphook, you may leave." Griphook turned and went over to another goblin that was helping an older woman.

Raganor led Harry through the doors in which he had come from, down a hallway and into an office that say 'Family Vaults and Finances - Raganor'. The goblin sat behind the finely polished oak desk and motioned for Harry to sit down as well.

"Mr. Potter, you have very good timing. Someone from the Last Wills and Testaments was going to send you a notice about one Sirius Black and his will," Raganor said.

"Raganor, correct?" Harry asked. The goblin nodded, and Harry continued, "I didn't know he had a will, but I was hoping to do some other business as well."

"Let me go get the necessary paperwork for the will to be processed and your share to be put into your family vault. Then we can get on with what you need," Raganor said. "Please wait here." He walked out of the room and left Harry alone thinking about Sirius' will.

What had Sirius left him, and who else had he left things for? He presumed Sirius had left something for Tonks and Remus. Tonks was his family and Remus was his best friend. _'Why would he leave something for me?'_ Harry wondered. _'Well, you were his godson,'_ a voice in the back of his head said. Harry did not have any more time to contemplate this, for Raganor had returned.

"Here we are. The amount you will be receiving and what you will receive are listed here. You must sign the bottom for it to be processed," the goblin said as he handed Harry Sirius' will, and a few other documents that went along with it.

"That's all I need to do?" Harry asked surprised at how fast it was.

"Yes. Now what else did you need?"

"I wanted to go over the Potter Family Vault and Estates. Dumbledore didn't see fit to tell me I had access to it when I turned fifteen," Harry said, quite frustrated with Dumbledore.

"Ah, I'll go get the file." Raganor turned towards a large filing cabinet behind his desk and started searching through it. Meanwhile, Harry looked over Sirius' will. He was shocked at how much he was receiving from Sirius, but he knew the Blacks had been rich.

It was quite simple what he had left him. He had left Harry half of the Black Family fortune and a small island in the Mediterranean, while leaving Grimmauld Place along with a fourth of his fortune to Remus and a fourth to Tonks. Harry quickly signed the parchment; he did not want to dwell anymore on Sirius' death. He had gotten past it already, but still did not like to think about it more than necessary.

"Here is the Potter Family Vault and Estates file. It has all of your assets, estates, and holdings. I'll have the will processed now that it's been signed," Raganor said as he took the parchment from Harry and handed him a much larger file.

Harry opened the file to find the first page listing the assets in gold inside the Potter Family Vault. He stared at the number for a good two minutes before blinking and taking a deep breath.

"I have all of this? I mean I knew my parents were rich, but this… this is just a lot," Harry said finally.

"Yes, and that's not counting everything else in your vault; that's just numbers in galleons, sickles and knuts. Yet I highly doubt there is a speck of silver or bronze in the vault unless it's jewelry."

"How do I have over a hundred million galleons? In one vault?" Harry asked very slowly. "How can _anyone_ have that much in the first place?" He was thoroughly shocked at how much he had, and that was just in galleons!

"Well, I do not know much about your lineage, but I believe your family goes back over a thousand years through many of the more prominent people of the ages. You would do best to research your familial ties if you really want an answer."

"I suppose I'll do that. Can I transfer four million galleons to the Weasley Vault without them being able to say no to the money?" Harry asked, formulating a plan to help his surrogate family. He was not trying to buy their love, but he had more money than one person, or family for that matter, could ever spend. It was not fair for them that he had more money than he would ever spend. It was the least he could do after everything they had done for him.

"Yes, I believe I can get the paperwork for that drawn up. It might take a little while for it to go through since you do not have their permission, but it should be done shortly. You will need to sign something before you leave, of course."

Harry turned the page over and flipped through a few more pages that listed the transactions his parents had made. Nothing had been done in the past fifteen years. When he got to a list of the estates that the Potter Family owned his heart almost stopped. Potter Manor was the first on the list, as it was the primary estate. It was located in Northern Britain, and a Portkey was said to be available in his Family Vault. The list contained numerous other vacation houses all throughout Europe and the Americas, but the other one that caught his eye was the house in Godric's Hollow. He still owned the property where his parents had been killed. He was not sure what he wanted to do with it just yet, but he was getting an idea of what he might like to do.

He finally looked onto the page with all of his stocks and holdings. He had shares in over fifteen different companies, and they were not small sets of shares. He literally held over half the shares for many of the companies, such as Nimbus Brooms and Zonko's Joke Shop. _'Fred and George could be interested in that,'_ Harry mused.

"I'd like to keep everything the same, keep having it handled the same way. The stocks are doing well, correct?" Harry asked.

"Yes, they seem to be unchanging or increasing as of late," Raganor answered.

"Alright, everything seems to be in order. I'd like to go visit the Potter Family Vault. Oh, and can you have the funds in my Trust Vault transferred back to the Family Vault?" Harry asked.

"Yes, that can be done immediately. Just head out to the front counter to get into your Family Vault," Raganor said.

"Have a good day," Harry said as he stood up and left the office.

A short while later Harry was standing in front of the Potter Family Vault. Griphook had taken him down there on the harrowing cart ride.

"Just put your hand on the door. It will recognize you if you are a Potter," Griphook told him.

Harry did not want to know what would happen if he had not been a Potter. He placed his hand on the door, and it seemed to melt away. Before him were piles upon piles of gold that sparkled in the light cast from the torches along the walls of the vault. He walked through the vault looking at everything inside. There were antique weapons of beautiful design, armor, and even some portraits that had their paintings covered with a drape. Harry came upon a stool on which sat an ornate key of gold and a note. They golden key had a Gryffindor lion shaped handle with rubies for eyes. The note next to the key was brief,

_This key is the Portkey to Potter Manor. Say home and it will transport you to Potter Manor, say Gringotts and you will be transported back to this vault._

Harry pocketed the key. It would be an easy way to travel to Gringotts should he ever need it.

"Griphook, if I'm transported into this vault how do I get back to the surface?" Harry asked.

"Exit the vault and ring the bell next to the tracks and someone will be down shortly to take you back up," Griphook informed him. Harry nodded to the goblin before turning back to the room.

To the far right he noticed a large dresser with smaller drawers. Upon inspecting the dresser, he found that each of the drawers held various pieces of jewelry that had been in the Potter family. The top drawer held three rings, a pair of earrings, and a necklace. Two of the rings were of simple design each with a small emerald placed in the middle and two pristine diamonds set right next to the emerald. However, one was more noticeably feminine with more intricate detail than the other ring. The other ring was a simple golden band; however, on the inside band was the inscription '_Diligo, Fides, Spes_'. Under all the jewelry Harry found another note; it was short, but longer than the one on the stool.

_These were your parents' before they died; they would have wanted you to have them._

Harry had no idea who had written the note, but he appreciated that someone had kept his parents wedding rings and his mother's jewelry for him. He left all the jewelry where it was except for the simple golden band, which he slipped onto his right hand. He figured it had most likely been his father's because it would probably have been too big for his mother's finger, but one could never be too sure.

"Griphook, is there any way I can pay for larger things without having to carry around all the gold?" Harry asked as he walked back to the entrance of the vault towards Griphook.

"Yes, just leave them your vault number and they will be able to do the transaction," Griphook informed him.

After Harry refilled his money bag, in case he needed to buy smaller things, he exited the vault and headed back up to the surface with Griphook. Once outside of Gringotts he decided it would be best if he went back to the Dursleys. It was getting late, and he did not want to find out what kind of crowds the late night stores attracted.

The next day Harry got up early in order to get to Diagon Alley as soon as the stores opened. He had to be quick since Tonks would be arriving at one. He finished his daily workout at nine and Apparated to the Leaky Cauldron. Once in Diagon Alley he hurried over to a smaller store near the end of the alley. Inside he found dragon hide clothes, just what he was looking for.

"Excuse me," Harry said to the store owner. The owner took one look at Harry and snapped, "What do you want?"

Harry was taken aback by the man's rudeness, but persisted anyways.

"Do you have any dragon hide body suits?"

"Yes, what do you think all of this _dragon hide_ is?" the man asked sarcastically.

"I'd like one and a pair of boots also," Harry said as politely as he could. He was trying to smother the man with kindness in order to annoy him as much as possible.

"And you have money for both?" the man asked snobbishly. He looked Harry up and down, from his tight fitting t-shirt to his black jeans. Harry was not dressed poorly, but he did not look like he was rolling in gold and one had to be rolling in gold to afford dragon hide.

"Yes, why else would I be in here?" Harry asked.

"Alright, alright. Let me take your measurements for the boots and body suit." A measuring tape was soon stretching around every aspect Harry's body while the man wrote down numbers on a small piece of parchment.

"The body suit can be worn under regular clothes right?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Just so you know, dragon hide can not be magically tailored, so they will not change to fit your size like some clothes are. You better be sure you won't grow anymore or you'll be havin' to replace it," the man said. He was not as snappy as earlier since Harry was actually buying something from him.

"Yes, I know."

The man finished taking Harry's measurements and hurried off into the back to find the right size for him. A few minutes later he came back with two boxes.

"These should fit. If they do not come back and I will exchange them." Harry gave the man his vault number to take the money out of and quickly left the store. He had one more thing he needed to get before he went back to the Dursleys for the last time.

He found the watch shop near Madam Malkin's. He had not had a watch since his fourth year and he felt he needed a new one.

One of the employees noticed Harry walk inside and start to browse the watches. He went over to see if he could be of any assistance.

"Excuse me, sir. Do you need help finding anything?" the employee asked politely.

"Yes, I do. I was wondering if you had a watch that is waterproof, curseproof to some extent, and is able to keep track of people," Harry asked.

"You mean like a family clock that many Wizarding families own?"

"Yes, something like that exactly," Harry said. He really wanted to be able to know where his friends were and if they were in danger.

"We have a few over here of varying prices," the man motioned to another display case.

"I like that one," Harry said, pointing to a nice silver and gold watch. It was not fancy like the other watches with various sizes of diamonds in them, but it looked better than the rest in Harry's opinion.

"Simple, yet elegant," the man said. "That's one of our lesser priced watches, but it is very nice nonetheless. It can hold up to eight hands for people, it is waterproof up to five hundred feet and curseproof up to the advanced level of spells." Ten minutes later Harry was walking out of the store with his new watch on his left wrist, quite pleased with himself.

He stopped at the Leaky Cauldron for a quick lunch before heading back to the Dursleys'. He wanted to spend the least amount of time there as possible. After he had two butterbeers and an excellent sandwich he Apparated back to the Dursleys for the final time. There were only thirty minutes left until Tonks was due to arrive. He hurried upstairs to his room to pack. 'I'm never going to pack without magic again,' he thought to himself, as he levitated things into his trunk.

After he was all packed, he opened the window for Hedwig.

"I'll be at the Burrow, girl," Harry told his owl. Hedwig took off into the sky and Harry closed her cage and shrunk it. He changed into his dragon hide boots and placed the other box with his dragon hide body suit into his trunk before he closed it, shrunk it, and placed both the trunk and Hedwig's cage into his pocket. There were no new letters on his desk, so he decided he might as well change the room back to what it previously was. A few minutes later the room was back to its previously small, dull and uncomfortable self.

Just to have fun with the Dursleys, Harry placed a locking charm on the door that would not end for two years. He then proceeded to put 'Harry's Room' on the front of the door, so anyone that walked by would see it. The words would not come off for two years. The Dursleys would have something to remember him by. Hopefully they would eventually feel sorry for how they treated him. Not that he cared, but he did the same to the cupboard, minus the words. He did not need anyone that knew him to see that he had lived in the cupboard under the stairs for part of his life. It was just too embarrassing for him.

A knock at the door shook Harry from his thoughts. He looked down at his watch and saw it was one, so he figured Tonks should be the one knocking. He opened the door to see Tonks, dressed in a Weird Sister's t-shirt with her bubble-gum pink hair, standing on the doormat.

"Wotcher, Harry," Tonks greeted him with a smile.

"Wotcher, Tonks," Harry replied, smiling back. Harry motioned for Tonks to come inside, and he closed the door behind her.

"Have fun with Remus yesterday?" Harry asked with a wink. Tonks turned slightly pink, but shook her head.

"No…He's no fun, thinks his furry little problem is, well, a problem," Tonks said to him somewhat dejectedly.

"Keep pushing him. I know he likes you. OH!" Harry exclaimed. "That reminds me, I really need to write to Remus. I completely forgot about what he must be going through after Sirius' death." Harry said, mentally kicking himself for forgetting his father's friend.

"How is he?" Harry asked concernedly.

"He's doing better than he was. He tries to blame himself for Sirius' death. He thinks he should have done something to stop him from going to the Ministry with the rest of us," Tonks said, smiling sadly.

"Only I'm allowed to blame myself, no one else is," Harry joked. Tonks snorted at Harry's implication.

"You seem to be doing better with it," Tonks remarked. She had noticed that he did not seem as sad or depressed as he had before he went missing two weeks ago. When she had been on guard duty, watching the house, she would often see Harry looking like the living dead when he did his chores outside the house.

"Yeah, well I had a while to think about it by myself," Harry explained. _'A very long while,'_ he mused.

"Well, are you ready to go?" Tonks asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah I am. I already sent Hedwig off to the Burrow. Let me go tell them I'm leaving," Harry said. "Not that they'll care," he added.

"Goodbye Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia. I won't be back," Harry said to them. They were in the sitting room watching a game show on the tele. His uncle neither looked up nor gave any affirmation that he had heard Harry. His aunt, however, muttered a soft goodbye that he could barely make out.

"Alright, I'm ready to go," Harry said to Tonks as he came back in to the entrance hall.

"Grab hold of this," Tonks said as she pulled out a quill. They both grabbed on to the quill and Tonks tapped it with her wand. The last thought Harry had before he felt the jerk behind his navel was, _'I'm finally leaving the Dursleys, forever.'_

A/N: I'll be happy to answer any questions on anything you feel is OOC with Harry, keep in mind that it will be revealed in a few more chapters, and was hinted at in this one. The engraving on the ring means 'Love, Hope, Faith', if it's incorrect please let me know so I can change it. Chapter 3 is with my beta.


	3. And So It Begins

_A/N: For the most part it's fluff, and a little bit of drama. Cheers!_

Chapter 3: And So It Begins

Ginny Weasley flopped back onto her bed and groaned, staring at the small dent in the ceiling above her; she was having a very bad summer. It was definitely not what she considered a normal summer. Normally at least three or four of her six brothers would be home with her, but this year only one was left. He was sometimes her favorite, but other times the most annoying. Her mother was home, but then again, she was always home in the first place. Her dad had been working late every night, so she hardly got to see him. She and her brother, Ron, had been up to their necks in chores the first week back. They had so many chores for only one reason: they had gone off to the Ministry with Harry to help him save Sirius. Even though Sirius had not been there, they would have done it again at a moment's notice. Mrs. Weasley, however, had been appalled to hear they had gone running off the Ministry to fight Death Eaters and Voldemort. So she had grounded them for two weeks and had them constantly doing chores. They'd had to degnome the garden, cut the grass in the yard, tend to the gardens, feed the chickens, and do all the dishes. That was not even counting having to clean most of the house. However, she was very happy not to be back at Grimmauld Place, and she had been able to go swimming every day, even if it was only for an hour.

The only regret she felt was that Sirius had died. She may not have known him as well as Harry had, but she had liked him very much. He had been someone to talk to when everyone else had been doing things in the grim, old house. He had been understanding, and funny. Almost like an uncle, except more of an older brother at the same time.

However, to make matters worse, after the first week of summer Harry Potter, Ron's best mate and Ginny's new friend, had disappeared. To say Ginny had been worried would be the understatement of the century; she had been frantic. She had not heard from Harry since his reply to the very first letter she had sent him. Ron had only received a few '_I'm fine_' notes from Harry. Harry must have received her letter the day he disappeared, though he may not have read it. Despite the fact that she had received an actual reply the first time she sent him a letter, she still had figured he would probably just write the same thing Ron had received, but she had not even gotten a blank piece of parchment. She had not found out he was missing until the next day, when Dumbledore had called an Order of the Phoenix meeting and informed everyone of what had happened with Harry. They had started searching everywhere for him, but when all hope seemed to be lost after two weeks of searching, something odd had happened.

Her mum and dad had just come home from an Order meeting. Instead of seeing the sorrow that she had come to expect, their faces displayed a mix of joy and worry. She'd not found out what had them worried.When Ginny had asked her mother what had happened, her mum had almost cried in relief while relating what Dumbledore had told them about Harry. However, her mother had been cryptic about the circumstances surrounding his reappearance. Ginny didn't know whether to cry in relief too, or to find a way to yell at the boy for making her and the rest of her family worry so much. Instead, she had chosen to write a nice letter to him in hopes that he would reply to it.

She was not even sure why she had chosen to write about Dean in her letter. Something about Dean had been bugging her for a while though. She could not quite put her finger on it, he was annoyed that she worried so much about Harry being missing; no, there was something else that bugged her. She had just needed to talk to someone about him. Ron was not an option because he would make jabs at Dean any time she mentioned him. She could not understand the change of heart in Ron, he had always seemed nice to Dean; they had been dorm mates and friends, so why was he so insistent on Dean being evil all of a sudden? She did not dwell much on her thick-skulled brother, he seemed to be denser than a concrete wall.

Since she had been let off of her grounding a week ago, she had visited Dean twice. The first time he had been annoyed with her worry over Harry. She could not figure out men. _'Why do they all have to be so thick?'_ she thought to herself. She had always hoped Harry would come around, but when he had not, she had attempted to forget about him. It was not easy, as she still had not gotten over him. But she would be thankful enough if they could become friends.

She had received a letter the day before from Harry. He had apologized for so many different things in that one letter that she had a hard time keeping track of what he had apologized for. He had said he would be coming to the Burrow the following day, and he wanted to become good friends! To top that off he had even asked for a picture of her! If only she had a decent picture of herself. She had gone through all of her pictures of herself, but could not find a good one. In every single one that she had looked through she had found something terribly wrong with herself; most of the time her freckles stood out. Oh, how she hated her freckles. She would have to change that. If he wanted a picture, he would get one.

However, even though Harry had been found and had written her a decent sized letter, her summer had still gotten worse. She had visited Dean earlier the morning Harry was to arrive at the Burrow, or at least he had said he would be arriving in his letter. She had gone over to tell Dean the good news of Harry being found. Instead of being happy about it, he had been angry with her. He had accused her of being more concerned about Harry than about her boyfriend. That comment alone had sent her into a fury. She had started yelling at him for being an inconsiderate git and that he should have been concerned about his friend's safety.

But Dean had not backed down from her fury, instead he had yelled back saying she had only ever cared about Harry, and that she had only used him and never cared about him like she did Harry. He had also said that the only reason Harry liked her was because she would spread her legs for him at anytime. That had proven to be the wrong thing to say to her; the next thing he knew, his face was throbbing and there was a small handprint across his left cheek. He had then broken up with her for leading him on, and proceeded to call her all sorts of rude names. Before he could react he had come face to face with the tip of Ginny's wand. A moment later he was on the floor clutching his face because of Ginny's Bat Bogey Hex. She had then flooed home, leaving a pathetic Dean Thomas lying on the ground with his hands on his face.

'_He even had the nerve to call me a whore and a bitch!'_ Ginny had screamed in her mind after she got home. She wished she had hexed his bits off, but at the time she could not think straight, she had been so mad at Dean. She did not even care if she got in trouble with the Ministry, but at with the way it was currently being run they most likely would not have paid the slightest bit of attention to her use of magic.

She was currently on her bed waiting for Harry to arrive. She had been crying most of the time since she had arrived back from Dean's, and she was not completely sure why. As soon as she had arrived home, she had stormed up to her room and broken down in tears. What Dean said had struck a nerve, although she did not know what nerve, but it still had hurt her when he called her a whore.

'_I've got to calm down. I can't let Harry see me impersonating a hosepipe,'_ Ginny thought as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands. They were red and puffy from crying so much. She looked at the clock in her room and realized Harry would be arriving anytime.

She heard voices coming from outside her window, which was open. She could not tell what was being said, but they sounded cheerful. She stuck her head out the window and spotted Tonks with her pink hair and a young man making her way to the front door. The man was tall, muscular, and had nigh shoulder length, jet black hair. She was not sure who the man was, but she knew she wanted to see Tonks. She had not seen Tonks since the Department of Mysteries, and that did not even count as really seeing her.

She waited a few moments for her eyes to look normal again before hurrying out of her room and down the stairs into the kitchen. Tonks and the man followed her mum into the kitchen where they were talking. Her gaze fell on the man talking to her mother. He looked vaguely familiar, but she did not know anyone that would be around his age. She had gotten a glimpse of him earlier from her window. Tall and muscular just did not cut it. There were only two words to describe the man. They were_Hot _and _Sexy_. _'Look at those shoulders!'_ she exclaimed silently, looking at his broad shoulders. His back was turned to her, but she could tell he was very physically fit. _'And his hair,'_ she thought._ 'I wish I could get my hands in his hair. It looks like silk.'_

"Oh, hello Ginny," her mum said when she noticed her daughter standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Ginny vaguely registered her mum's voice as she was too entranced looking at the young man. When he turned around, with a goofy grin spreading across his face that was directed at her, she almost had heart failure.

Gazing back at her were the soul piercing, brilliant emerald green eyes of none other than Harry Potter. She felt her face flush, and she knew she probably looked like a tomato at the moment, but she should not tear her eyes off of Harry. She did not notice her mum and Tonks leave the kitchen.

'_Merlin, is that Harry?'_ she thought wide-eyed.

"H-Harry?" she asked timidly.

"The one and only," he said, giving her a lopsided grin. She loved it when he gave her that grin; it made her want to melt.

"Bloody hell!" she exclaimed wide-eyed as she threw herself into his arms. He laughed at her and hugged her back, tightly. _'She never was one to care about language,' _Harry chuckled to himself. _'Why does she seem to fit right into me?'_ he questioned. He'd been having thoughts about Ginny quite often during the time he was gone. It had taken him a while, but he had finally figured out he fancied her…a lot.

"It's good to see you too," he chuckled. He looked her over appreciatively. She was wearing a brown tank top that revealed her cleavage, but would still be considered modest. He had never noticed how well she was filling out. _'She's gorgeous. I don't know how I never noticed her until recently,'_ he said, taking in every visible inch of her. She had on a yellow flowery skirt that showed off a good bit of leg.

"How in Merlin's beard did you get so tall?" she demanded.

"I'll tell you later, okay?" he said softly.

"Why can't you tell me now?" she asked, furrowing her brow.

"I'd rather explain with Ron and Hermione here," he said, but when she looked like she was about to say something he quickly clarified, "It's a long story."

"Okay," she replied slowly, looking around for Tonks and her mum. "Hey, where'd Mum and Tonks go?"

"Dunno, they must have left when you were staring at me," he smirked.

"It's not my fault you grew ten feet and turned sexy," she said indignantly. She gasped when she realized what she had said and turned beet red again.

"Really? I wasn't sexy before?" Harry asked, sounding hurt. He looked thoughtful for a moment before a fake look of sudden realization appeared on his face. "Oh, so that's why everyone was staring at me yesterday. Here I was thinking I was ugly or smelled bad," he said sarcastically, then added, "You know, one might think I was famous or something."

"Or something…" she muttered.

"What'd you say?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said quickly.

"Better be nothing," he smirked. "Or I might just have to show you just what that_ something_ is."

"Prat!" she said, hitting him on the arm playfully. "How long did it take you to convince Dumbledore to let you stay here?" she asked. _'So much for any awkwardness,'_ she mused. She could not believe how much Harry had changed in the three weeks since she had last seen him. It was unbelievable! She was even surprised at her own daring earlier, admitting she thought he was sexy, and he had taken it in great stride.

"Actually, I didn't have to say anything. Oh! That reminds me. I need to tell your parents something. Is your dad home?" he asked.

"No," she said sadly. "He's been working late. I don't get to see him that much. What do you need to tell him?"

"Oh, sorry. I need to talk to him first before I can say anymore. I'm really sorry about it, though I think you have a right to know," Harry said sincerely. Ginny looked slightly hurt that he would not tell her.

"So, where's Ron?" he asked, changing the subject.

Ginny giggled before responding. "He's at Hermione's. They've been writing all summer."

"Really?" Harry said with one eyebrow raised. "Wonder what they could possibly be talking about."

"Well, I actually read one of Ron's letters," she said, her cheeks turned slightly pink at this admission.

"After you scolded him for trying to read mine?" Harry grinned. He loved how Ginny worked. It was okay if she did something, but not if her brothers did it.

"Yeah, well…it doesn't matter. They were talking about you mainly, and how you're probably depressed, alone, and bottling up your emotions. I believe they were devising how best to make you share them so you don't…'burst' as Hermione put it," she summed up quickly. Harry groaned aloud at this revelation, he did not need people bugging him about Sirius.

"Great, just what I need," Harry sighed. "I hope they realize that I've gotten over his death. I don't like talking about it, but I've come to terms with it," he admitted.

"You have?" Ginny asked surprised.

"Yeah I have. You'd be amazed what a bit of freedom can do for you," Harry grinned.

"Speaking of those two weeks," she said, glaring at him. Harry gulped and took a step backward. He did not like the look she was giving him.

"I tol—" he started, but she did not let him finish. _'How the hell does she go from nice to angry in two seconds flat?'_

"Don't you ever do that to me again Harry James Potter! You had me and my family worried sick about you!" she shouted at him angrily, all earlier thoughts forgotten. "No letter, no nothing!"

"Ginny."

"Leaving for two weeks and not telling anyone! You could have been hurt, or captured. Even killed!" she continued ranting not hearing Harry at all.

"Ginny," Harry said a bit more forcefully this time, but it was to no avail. Ginny kept on going as if she had not even heard him.

"Disappearing like that with a destroyed house. We thought you had died!" she shouted, tears were beginning to form in her eyes.

"Ginny!" Harry almost shouted. She stopped talking and looked at him. Her eyes had become moist again and the redness was creeping back from her earlier crying.

"I told you I'd explain it to you later," he said calmly. "I didn't mean to worry you guys like that. You know I wouldn't do that on purpose. I had things to do and I had no way of contacting you."

"I know…" she sighed defeated. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, but really, next time at least give us some indication you're okay."

"I'll try," he replied softly. "You know, I didn't expect a full out rant from you. Your mum yes, but not you," he said with a grin, but she did not even crack a smile at his attempt at a joke.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked softly, quite concerned with how she was feeling. Her tears had not stopped, and a moment later she broke out sobbing again.

"I'm s-s-sorry," Ginny sobbed. She could not control her tears, _'Damn it! Why am I still crying?'_

"What's wrong, Ginny?" Harry asked quietly. He moved closer to her and pulled her into a tight embrace, trying his best to comfort her. He marveled at how right it felt to hold her in his arms, but he quickly shook himself from those thoughts. _'Why do these thoughts always come at a bad time?'_ he questioned himself. He turned his thoughts back to the crying girl in his arms. He had no idea what set her off, but he hoped he was not the cause of her tears.

"Sorry, I've had a pretty rough day," she admitted quietly, through her sobs.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Harry asked slowly, he did not want to push her into sharing something she was not comfortable with.

"Let's take a walk," Ginny suggested. She had stopped crying, but her eyes were still red and puffy, glistening from the tears. Her cheeks were flushed, but she looked a little bit better than when she was sobbing.

"Alright," Harry readily agreed. He really wanted to comfort her. He was not sure why, but he would end up feeling bad if there had been something he could have done. Harry pulled out of the embrace finally, looking down at her. He brushed the last of her tears off of her face gently.

"Thanks," Ginny said softly. They walked outside quietly before Ginny turned to him to talk. Harry reached out and grasped her hand, giving it a quick squeeze in reassurance. He was not sure why he did it, but he felt like it was the right thing to do at the time. Ginny smiled at him, and started to speak.

"So, this morning I went to visit Dean. I wanted to tell him the good news about you being 'found'," Ginny started. "When I told him the news, instead of being happy or relieved or whatever, he started yelling at me for caring more about you than him. He kept on ranting about the same general thing. I yelled back, and eventually hit him. He broke up with me, then I flooed home. Although, I was about to break up with him, so it doesn't really matter who did it," Ginny continued. Harry was floored that Dean had acted in such a way.

"I'm sorry," Harry said as comfortingly as possible. He could not think of anything else to say. Nothing seemed adequate.

"I don't care about him breaking up with me," Ginny told him. "It's more what he cal—" she added, but stopped herself. She did not want to tell Harry what Dean had called her.

"What'd he say?" he asked sharply. He would not let Dean degrade Ginny in any way.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it," Ginny said a little too quickly.

"Ginny, please tell me what he said," Harry pleaded.

"Don't worry about it," she replied.

"Ginny. I want to be your friend, please tell me what he said. I won't let him insult you," Harry said kindly. Ginny looked at him thoughtfully. From Harry's point of view it looked like she was studying him, but really she was just debating with herself whether she should tell him.

"He… he called me a bitch and your w-whore," Ginny stammered the last word. Harry's eyes widened as Ginny finished. His eyes flashed with anger, something Ginny had never seen before. She backed up purely on instinct.

"I'm sorry," Harry said when Ginny stepped back from him. The anger in his eyes left as fast as it had come, leaving nothing but concern for Ginny. "I didn't mean to scare you. He really said all that?"

"Yes," Ginny said, staring at the ground. She did not want Harry to think badly of her, but it seemed too late now.

"Oh, I can't wait for school to start," Harry said with a gleam Ginny had never seen before in his eyes. "He's going to wish he had never looked at you." Ginny looked up at him in surprise.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I will not let someone else harm my friend, emotionally or physically," Harry said fiercely.

"I don't need protection," Ginny said indignantly.

"It's not so much protection as it is payback," Harry replied with a grin.

"Well, as long as you let me join in, then it's fine with me," Ginny said, grinning wickedly.

"Oh, of course. I wouldn't dream of doing it without you," he said seriously.

"So, how about that swimming?" he asked. "You said you've been going swimming almost every day."

"Alright, let me go change real quick," she replied. They quickly walked back to the house. Once inside she started up the stairs before turning back.

"Thanks," Ginny said sincerely as she gave him a quick hug before running off up the stairs.

"You're welcome," Harry said quietly, gazing after her before turning and looking out the window, staring into the distance. _'It's good to be back.'_

OoOoOoOoOoOoO _  
_

A short while later Harry and Ginny were walking to the pond in a comfortable silence. Ginny had come down a few minutes after leaving Harry in the kitchen. She had a large t-shirt covering her bathing suit.

When they reached the pond Ginny turned to Harry with a slightly confused look.

"Why didn't you change into a bathing suit?" she asked.

"Just watch," Harry said with a wink. He proceeded to take off his shirt. When it came off, Ginny's breath caught in her throat. She gazed at his muscular upper body. _'Merlin, look at him,'_ she stared.

"Like what you see?" he asked, winking again. Ginny turned slightly red, but held her ground.

"Possibly," she said nonchalantly, doing her best to not stare, but failing miserably. "But I still don't see where you're going with this. You didn't change."

Harry shrugged before flicking a finger and transfiguring his pants into a pair of black swim trunks. Ginny's jaw dropped at his display of wandless magic.

"B-but you didn't use a wand," she stammered dumbly.

"Whoever said you_needed_ a wand is an idiot," Harry replied. "You just need practice and almost _anyone_ can do it without a wand, but not enough people have the patience for it."

"You didn't know how to do that three weeks ago," she said, gazing at him slightly in awe.

"Like I said, I'll explain once I can get Ron and Hermione with us also."

"Fine…" she muttered. Harry discreetly removed the Sticking Charm on the disillusioned holster, but when he went to put it with his shirt, Ginny noticed the movement and the outline of the disillusioned object.

"What's that?" she asked suspiciously.

"Erm…nothing," Harry replied. He did not want to explain what it was. She glared at him before speaking again.

"You're holding something and it's disillusioned. You know I'm not dumb, why would you be hiding something?" she said accusingly. _'Might as well tell her now instead of later,'_ he sighed.

"It's a gun," he said simply.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"_**Alright, so I'm going to show you something different," Jem said. He pulled out what Harry knew to be a gun. He had seen them on Dudley's television programs, he was always watching something violent.**_

"_**American Aurors carry around a pistol as a sidearm in case they lose their wand, but I like them because you can't block them with a magical shield such as Protego; but you must conjure a physical object in order to stop them. This here is a Glock 17, I prefer Glock over the other gun companies, but that's just my personal opinion, many Aurors like H&K better. Now I know for a fact that no British Aurors carry guns, they rely too heavily on their wands, but they really are useful for getting out of those tight situations. I'm going to teach you how to shoot a gun, and then I'm going to set you up with one of your choice. I'll give you a magazine of different models of all the different companies to look through later," he told Harry, who was looking slightly confused. He pulled out his wand and conjured a few metal targets that faintly held the shape of a person.**_

"_**I'll explain all of the parts of the gun to you later. Now go to town," he said as he handed the Glock to Harry.**_

OoOoOoOoOoOoO _**  
**_

"A gum?" she said thoroughly confused.

"No, Gun. G-U-N," he said, spelling it out for her. "It's a Muggle weapon. It shoots out bullets," he said. He pulled out the magazine and popped out a bullet, showing it to her.

"Why do you have one of those?" she asked.

"Because magical shields can't block it; you would have to conjure a physical object to stop it. It's dead useful against most wizards, since they don't know anything about Muggles."

"Oh," she said simply. "Why do you need one though? I mean you're not going to go running off after Voldemort again, right?" she asked accusingly._'He better not go running after him without me!'_ she thought fiercely.

"No, of course not, but it's for protection. I can cast with one hand while I shoot with the other, and since they can't block it, either my spell or the bullet will hit them. Though I'd prefer not to kill anyone."

"That thing can kill someone?" she asked wide-eyed.

"Depending on where it hits the person, and if they get medical attention, yes," he said slowly, letting the information sink in. He put the magazine back into the gun, made sure the safety was on, stuck it back in the holster and tossed it onto his t-shirt lying in the grass.

"Let's go swimming. You can look at it more later," he said, changing the subject.

"Alright," she replied before taking off her t-shirt to reveal a modest, brown bikini. It was Harry's turn to stare and be rendered utterly speechless. _'Merlin!' _he screamed in his head as he gazed at her body. Her curves were coming in nicely, and he could not keep himself from staring. He had never noticed her like _this_ at Hogwarts, but then again they always wore those stupid uniforms. She had always been Ron's baby sister until recently, but now she was far from it. His eyes turned southward and found her legs. He had never seen so much of any girl's legs before. Her skin was pale and silky smooth looking. He wished he could just touch it, but knew that would definitely be bad.

"See something you like?" Ginny asked teasingly. All the blood seemed to have left his brain and made its way south, for he could not come up with a single coherent sentence. He wavered for a second, on the verge of fainting before shaking himself and looking into Ginny's eyes. He was instantly swallowed up into her deep, swirling chocolate brown eyes.

"I…I," he stuttered before closing his mouth and taking a deep breath. "Yes," he muttered barely loud enough for her to hear him. He instantly blushed, turning a shade of red that would make any Weasley proud. Ginny gaped at him, not believing what he said. _'Could he really be looking at me like that?'_ she asked herself. She pushed the thought aside and grabbed Harry's hand, pulling him towards the edge of the pond. Letting go of his hand she pushed him into the pond. He had still been staring at her, and had not said anything else.

He burst through the surface of the water sputtering and glaring at Ginny, who was bent double with laughter.

"What the hell did you do that for?" he asked angrily.

"Well you wouldn't stop staring, so I had to do something," she chuckled.

"I'm going to get you," he said, no longer angry, but planning something even better.

"You can't get me," she said, sticking out her tongue.

"Wanna bet?" he asked grinning widely at her.

"Yep," she said confidently. He stood up and started making his way over to her. When she ran back a few feet he turned around and walked further into the water. He started swimming towards the middle of the pond. Once he reached it he turned around and saw Ginny. He grinned at her, and gave her a wave, the wave was really him casting a summoning spell. A split-second later Ginny was screaming her head off as she flew through the air towards Harry. He cancelled the spell when she was a few feet in front of him, and she crashed into the water with small splash.

She came up a moment later glaring at him.

"Couldn't get you ehh?" he asked with a smirk. _'She looks cute like that,'_ he thought.

"You cheated, Potter," she said, still glaring at him.

"Nuh uhh," he replied, and started a splashing war. They played around for a bit before Harry started to add a little magic to his arsenal and had larger than normal bursts of water coming from his side. A short while later Ginny held up her hands in defeat.

"I give, I give. You cheat too much," she said.

"I try," he said smartly, giving her a smirk. "Let's dry off, maybe we can go flying for a bit," he suggested. He and Ginny got out of the pond and he quickly dried both of them off with a quick Drying Charm.

"Damn it! I forgot to have Mum put the Sunblock Charm on me," she grumbled angrily at herself for forgetting. "You could have used it too," she said pointedly. Harry looked at his arms and found they were starting to turn pink.

"Well, let's go sit under a tree for a bit; then maybe we can go flying." Harry grabbed his shirt and gun, and put them under a tree before sitting down under the shade, leaning against the tree trunk. Ginny did the same, sitting next to him. They sat there quietly for a moment before she broke the silence.

"I just noticed that you don't have your glasses. What happened to them?" she asked. With all the excitement earlier, she had not noticed his lack of glasses.

"Well, I suppose I can tell you about that now instead of later with Ron and Hermione," Harry decided. "I have Magical Contacts. I can control what color my eyes are with them, they enhance my vision at night, allow me to see through Invisibility Cloaks, and a few other things that make sense only to Muggles. The cover story is that someone came up with a spell to correct eye sight. So, that's what you will be hearing me tell most people that ask."

"Oh, okay," Ginny said, nodding in agreement. "Are you really going to be turning sixteen in a few days?" she asked, that was the one other thing that was bugging her.

"Nope," he grinned. Her face lit up with curiosity until he added, "But, I'm not telling you how old I'll be until later," finishing with a smirk.

"Come on, please," Ginny begged, adopting such a look of innocence that Harry found it nearly impossible to refuse. _'She looks like an angel,'_ he thought, while inwardly cursing her for being so beautiful.

"Nope, not telling," he grinned, enjoying the fact that she wanted to know so badly.

"Fine," Ginny huffed, throwing up her hands in defeat and sighing dramatically. Harry's grin just grew wider.

They chatted about random topics for the next half hour, Ginny had tried many times to get Harry to tell her how much older he was. Harry thought they had stayed under the tree long enough, and suggested they finally go flying. They walked over to the paddock and Ginny went to the broom shed to pick out one of the many ancient brooms the Weasleys owned, while Harry unshrunk his trunk, pulled out his broom, reshrunk his trunk, and then placed it back with his shirt. He did not feel like putting his shirt back on, he wanted to feel the wind against him when he flew.

Ginny returned a moment later with the best of the old brooms, an ancient Shooting Star that had seen better days.

"Nice broom," Harry said with a wink before becoming serious. "You sure that thing is safe?" he asked.

"Probably, though I wouldn't bank on it," Ginny replied jokingly.

"You can have a go on mine in a bit, if you want," he offered.

"Are you sure?" Ginny asked, eyeing the broom longingly.

"Of course," Harry replied. "Give me a few minutes first. I haven't had a chance to fly in _forever_." They both knew why he had not flown in so long, and it came down to one name: Umbridge.

Harry mounted his Firebolt and kicked off into the air. He felt the rush of air against him as he pointed his broom straight up and shot off into the air. It was the greatest feeling in the world to him. He had no worries when he was in the air. He was free.

Once he was a bit above the giant trees across the paddock, over two hundred feet in the air, he surrendered to gravity and pointed his broom straight down before rocketing off towards the ground. He pushed his Firebolt to its max. He whooped loudly as he flew downwards. His hair whipped backwards and he looked like a streak moving one hundred and fifty miles per hour. He heard Ginny scream as he barreled towards the earth. Just before he was to plow into the ground, he pulled up and leveled off, barely a foot above it. He came to a stop in front of Ginny, who was still holding her broom staring at him in a mix of shock and awe. She had seen him do it in games before, but never just for fun.

"Merlin, how do you do that?" Ginny asked. She was a good flyer, but she would never be able to do that by herself.

"Easy, just pull up right before you hit the ground," Harry said sarcastically.

"Git," she pouted.

"Do you want me to show you?" he asked.

"Yes!" Ginny said excitedly. _'If I can't do it myself, he can at least show me,'_ she thought somewhat nervously. Harry scooted forward on his broom, so she could get on. Ginny looked at him for a moment before he motioned for her to get on the back. She clambered on to the back of his broom and wrapped her arms around his stomach. She had not changed out of her bathing suit, and Harry felt all of her pressed up against him, and boy did it felt heavenly to him.

'_I really hope I can still do this,'_ he prayed silently.

'_Oh, I can feel his muscles,'_ she sighed girlishly.

"Ready?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Ginny replied somewhat nervously. She tightened her hold, and pulled herself tight against his back.

'_Merlin, she's even closer now!'_ Harry exclaimed to himself, his heart rate increasing dramatically, and for the second time that day most of the blood left his head. Her bathing suit was still a bit damp, and he could feel the wet fabric of her top, the only thing between him and her breasts, pressed tightly against his back. He could not figure out if he could be in any better of a position. Harry pushed his thoughts aside and flew slowly up into the air. He slowly sped up until he was a bit higher up than the previous time.

"Here we go," Harry told her. Her only response was to increase her death grip around his stomach. He tilted the front of the broom forward and started to accelerate. Ginny felt her hair whip backwards and her stomach flutter as she plummeted to the ground. However, despite the fact that she could be flattened against the ground, she felt safe with Harry. She knew that he would keep her safe, and that feeling was great. She started whooping right along with Harry as he pushed his Firebolt to greater speeds.

Harry pulled up about two feet above the ground to give Ginny a little leeway on getting used to the maneuver. He slowed to a stop and turned around to see Ginny's face slightly pink from the ride.

"How was that?" Harry teased.

"Bloody brilliant, Potter," Ginny replied.

"Do you want to give it a try now?" Harry asked.

"I don't think I should, I'll probably break your broom. I'd rather stick to chasing," Ginny said honestly.

"Oh come on, you're a great flier and you know it," Harry encouraged.

"Are you sure?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, besides if you break my broom it will give me an excuse to buy the new Firebolt, once it comes out in the next month or so," Harry teased.

"Shut up and get on," Ginny said as she got onto the front of the broom. Harry followed suit and sat behind her, giving her a bit of space between the two of them. He was not sure if he should be any closer, but Ginny solved that problem and scooted back into him, her back pressed up against his chest. Luckily for him, his earlier arousal had disappeared during the stunt.

"You better hold on, Potter," Ginny said fiercely as she kicked off the ground. He quickly wrapped his arms around her front, but did not hold as tightly as she did; he did not want to hurt her. However, when she pointed the Firebolt straight up, and accelerated quickly, he was forced to hold on tighter. He marveled at the feel of his arms around her, and the skin on skin contact his hands felt.

She went even higher than Harry did, easily at about three hundred feet. Once she had leveled out, she didn't hesitate to shoot towards the ground, pushing the Firebolt as hard as possible. Where Harry would have pulled up, she didn't. Instead, she waited a second longer before pulling up. This proved to be the wrong choice, for the front of the Firebolt hit the ground at a shallow angle and flung the pair off of the broom. Luckily they had slowed down significantly when Ginny tried to pull up.

Harry landed on top of Ginny, their entire bodies pressed tightly. Harry could feel every curve of her body, and his reaction would have been quite noticeable had their lips not been smashed together. Fireworks went off in their brains, and they both froze. However, their bodies took over, seemingly knowing exactly what to do, and they tested the kiss moving their lips slowly, savoring the moment.

'_I'm kissing bloody Harry Potter!'_ Ginny screamed in her mind, joyfully. She slowly regained control of herself and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck. In the back of her head she felt that she should probably stop and talk, but at the moment she really did not care. Acting purely on instinct, she parted her lips and flicked her tongue against Harry's lips. He reacted immediately, and parted his lips to give her access to his mouth. Their tongues met and they tasted each other. _'Merlin, he tastes like mint,'_ she said to herself while she groaned aloud. It was a good thing she was on the ground; if she had been standing she was sure her legs would have gone out. She felt Harry's left hand cup the back of her head, and his right hand start to get tangled in her long hair. She moved her hands into his hair, and ran her fingers through it. It felt almost as soft as silk.

'_Ron's going to kill me,'_ Harry told himself. _'Who cares, you're snogging a gorgeous redhead,'_ he argued with himself. With that thought he turned his attention back to the beautiful redhead he was currently kissing. When she parted her lips he almost groaned aloud in pleasure. She tasted of chocolate and strawberries, a perfect combination in his opinion. He deepened the kiss on a whim, and was pleasantly rewarded when she did the same. A few moments later they broke the kiss, gasping for air. Harry was about to apologize, for what he was not sure of but he felt he needed to apologize. However, Ginny did not let him.

"That huff was bloody huff brilliant," she said, smiling widely at him, and still gasping for breath. Harry took a few deep breaths before answering.

"I'd have to agree," he said dazedly. He was still trying to get it through his head he had just kissed Ginny and thoroughly enjoyed it.

"I think you more than agree," Ginny giggled as she noticed his arousal. He turned his head to the side in embarrassment, and did not notice her obvious arousal that was pointedly pressed firmly against his chest.

"Erm—I'm s—," he started, turning back to her, but was cut off when Ginny kissed him again. Where their first kiss had been more of a test, the second was full of passion and warmth. Both were in new, uncharted territory. Ginny had only ever kissed Michael and Dean, but it had always been chaste. She had never wanted to go further with them, and Harry's one experience with kissing had been a disaster. However, with Harry she felt safe, they had never even talked much, let alone dated. She could not explain it, it was just there, but one could always chalk it up to her being in love with him since before she had met him.

Slowly, Ginny parted her lips, intent on exploring his mouth some more. They did not hear the back door open and shut. As she slipped her tongue past his lips, they heard someone scream.

"POTTER, WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY SISTER?" Ron shouted after recovering from his shock of seeing Harry on top of his sister, clearly trying to suck her tonsils out. Both of them clad in only swimwear, they were pressed very closely together.

"Erm—" Harry started, scrambling to his feet, quite embarrassed about being caught in a somewhat compromising position; however, Ginny interrupted him.

"He was snogging me, that's what," Ginny said fiercely to her brother as she stood up next to Harry.

"Why the hell were you kissing Ginny?" Ron asked angrily, glaring at Harry.

Harry never had a chance to answer, for Ginny had started shouting at her brother.

"Because he wanted to!" Ginny shouted at him.

"Why the hell would you want to?" Ron asked stupidly.

"Oh, maybe because I fancy her?" Harry asked sarcastically. _'Can Ron be any thicker?'_

"Well, I didn't say you could kiss her," Ron snapped. In his anger he had completely overlooked the fact that Harry was now slightly taller than him, and extremely well built.

"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY!" Ginny shouted at him, pulling out her wand and pointing it at his face. "I will kiss who I want, when I want, where I want, and how I want. You have no choice in the matter and if I want to shag him I will!" she said fiercely. Harry gazed at her, amazed at how beautiful she looked when she was angry. Her eyes were blazing and her hair was whipping around by an invisible breeze. Ron gaped at her for a second before closing his mouth.

"Yes, I do! I'm your brother, I'm supposed to protect you, and you will not be shagging anyone!" he argued back just as loudly

"PROTECT ME? FROM HARRY? ARE YOU A BLOODY IDIOT?" she shouted.

"No, but last time you were possessed!" he shouted, completely oblivious to the words that came out of his mouth. Harry stared at Ron, appalled that he would insult Ginny so badly. He looked at Ginny. What he saw made his heart break. Her face was pale and her eyes glistened with tears, clearly hurt by his comment. However, the hurt was quickly replaced with a bristling rage.

"Ron you bloody wanker! How can you say that to Ginny?" Harry shouted angrily, turning back to his best mate. _'How could he say that to Ginny?'_ he fumed.

"What the hell is your problem, Potter?" Ron shouted back, still oblivious to his harsh, cold words.

"Do you have any idea how much you just hurt your sister?" Harry asked coldly. He had to get Ginny away from the idiot before she hexed his bits off.

"All I said was that she needs to be careful!" Ron retorted.

"No, you bloody idiot. You just said the worst thing you could possibly say to her," Harry spat coldly. "Some brother you are," he added. He grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her off towards the forest. Ron sat there looking confused as to how he hurt his sister's feelings. _'He really is thicker than a concrete wall reinforced with steel,'_Harry mused angrily.

"Hey, he didn't mean it," Harry said consolingly. He knew Ron was a prat, but in his heart he would never mean to say that to his sister.

"It doesn't matter if he didn't mean it. He still said it," Ginny snapped. Harry was taken aback for a moment when she snapped at him, but realized she needed to calm down.

"Feel like hurting something?" Harry asked.

"Yes!" Ginny exclaimed, still furious at her git of a brother. She really wanted to hex Ron into next week, but her mum would not be very appreciative if she did, and that would leave Hermione without an idiot for a best friend.

"Alright, let me set up a couple things, then you can have your fun," Harry said with a slight grin. He furrowed his brow in concentration for a minute before waving his hand and three dummies appeared. They each looked strikingly similar to Ron. He waved his hand once more and they each moved back about twenty feet from Harry and spread out from each other. He also cast a Privacy Charm that would let them know if anyone came near their spot.

"Okay, I'm going to show you how to shoot a gun. It can be quite soothing when you're angry," Harry said, smiling. "Please listen closely because it's dangerous if you don't know how to use it," he added in a much more serious tone. He pulled out his gun and showed it to Ginny. "This is an H&K Mark 23 .45 ACP, or Automatic Colt Pistol. H&K stands for Heckler & Koch, a company that makes different guns. Just call it an MK 23, the full name is obviously too long. This model in specific just started being manufactured in May. It went through extensive testing before it was released to the Muggle government in America. The civilian version is not set to come out until December 1st. A friend of mine got it for me, he had connections in the U.S. Special Operations Command," he said, turning the gun around at different angles for Ginny to see. He made sure to have it always pointed at the ground. She was staring at him incredulously as he rattled off the information to her as if it were nothing.

"This is the magazine. For short it's a mag or a clip," he told her after unloading the gun and holding the piece of metal that came out of the bottom. "The magazine holds the rounds, or bullets. Normally this gun can only hold twelve bullets, however, I'm able to conjure ones that hold twenty. They look the same size because I magically enlarge it when I conjure it," he continued, popping out a round from the magazine. Ginny looked at it with interest evident in her eyes. "You don't need to remember all the technical terms, I'm just giving you the background on it."

"Why's it called a magazine? I mean don't we read magazines?" Ginny asked confusedly, it was one of the few things she remembered from his little spiel.

"I'm not exactly sure. They just are, but use any term easiest for you," Harry said honestly. "Now, here's the safety," he continued his explanation, pointing to the switch near the hammer. "If the safety is turned on, the gun cannot fire. It must be switched off to be fired." He continued his explanation, explaining the hammer, the sights, the slide, the slide stop, and the trigger. He explained how to unload the gun and reload it, and when you need to cock it.

"Alright, ready to try? It sounds complicated with all the parts and such, but you'll remember it all. I'll conjure you a few mags to run through while you shoot. I wouldn't recommend trying to conjure them yourself, because it's pretty hard to conjure the mag and the bullets as one thing. It took me quite a while to master it," Harry said as he conjured a table.

"Shoot from behind the table at any of the targets you want. Once you're done shooting take the magazine out and turn the safety on, then place the gun on the table," he told her while he started conjuring mags for her to use. He stopped after four mags, and set them side by side on the table so she could get to them quickly. He quickly showed her the standard shooting pose, left foot in front, right foot in back with the right and left arms extended holding the gun. After showing her the stance, he handed the gun to her and backed off a bit. A special charm was placed on the gun to give it less recoil than a normal one, and a silencing charm equivalent to a Hollywood sound suppressor. The real Muggle silencers only quieted the gun to a tolerable level. He wanted to be able to hear the gun go off, but not enough for other people to be alerted of it.

A soft pop issued from the gun as Ginny shot at the middle target. Her shot went wide, as she had not been aiming properly.

"Hold it steady, Gin," Harry encouraged. "Make sure you aim down the sights and line it up with where you want the bullet to hit." She made no effort to reply as she shot the gun again, leaving a clean hole through the fake Ron's forehead. Harry looked at her in surprise.

She quickly fired off a series of four shots; all hit the dummy in the head and all were within two inches of each other._ 'Damn, I'd hate to be on the wrong end of her with a gun,'_ Harry grinned to himself, pleasantly surprised at her skill. She really started to get into it after that. Turning her body to hit each of the dummies, she fired a quick two rounds at each, hitting them all in the head, except for the last shot, which went wide. She finished off the rest of the mag in the rightmost dummy, leaving its head in shattered pieces. She quickly thumbed the magazine catch, and let the empty mag fall to the ground while she snatched up another one from the table and reloaded the gun.

By the time she had finished with the four spare mags, the dummies were no longer standing. Each had been torn to shreds from all the bullets, and one hundred empty cartridges lay on the ground. Harry quickly vanished all the cartridges, empty mags and what was left of the dummies. He picked up his MK 23, conjured a new mag, loaded it and stuck it back into his holster. With a wave of his hand he took off the Privacy Charm and turned back to Ginny.

"Feel better now?" he smirked.

"That felt great," Ginny sighed contentedly. "I think I'm ready to face Ron without hexing him into next week."

"You know, you're kinda scary with that thing," Harry joked, referring to her skills with the gun. Ginny colored slightly at his praise. "I wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of you with a gun."

"You better keep thinking that Potter," Ginny growled. Harry chuckled and slid his hand into Ginny's. They walked back to the Burrow in a comfortable silence.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Ron watched his sister and best mate walk away, furious with him. He was not sure what he had said wrong; he had only said the truth. Had he really called Ginny weak and stupid? He shrugged and walked back into the house. They would get over it sooner or later.

He had just returned home from a visit with Hermione and he had completely forgotten Harry would be coming to stay with them that day. So when he had seen Harry and Ginny on the ground locked in what he considered to be tonsil sucking, he had freaked out. He really did not mind Harry and Ginny dating, if that's what they were doing, but it had just surprised him and he had acted purely on instinct. A sudden thought occurred to him. _'Shite, that was Harry?'_ Harry's new height and body had gone completely unnoticed to him. _'I'm glad he didn't hit me…I wouldn't be getting up for a while,'_ he thought, suddenly scared of ticking off his best mate.

"Mum, are there any sandwiches?" Ron yelled from the kitchen. He was not sure where his mum was and he was hungry.

"No dear, I'll come make some for you," his mum said, coming into the kitchen from the living room. She bustled over to the counter and started to prepare some sandwiches for Ron.

"Do you know where Harry and Ginny went to?" she asked.

"Erm… no," Ron said, looking at the notches in the old oak table.

"Ronald, I raised you, and I know when you're lying to me. Where are they?" she asked sternly, not even looking up from her sandwich making.

Ron could not decide if he should tell her what happened or make something up, but then again she had already caught him lying once. "When I got home I walked out back and erm…found them uhm…" Ron started, but was uncomfortable finishing.

"Found them doing what?" she prompted. She had been in the living room, cleaning up after Tonks had left, so she had no idea what they had been up to.

"Erm…They were snogging," Ron said. "More like sucking each others tonsils out," he muttered.

"Oh," she said indifferently; on the inside, however, she was bubbling with joy. She had always known that Harry and Ginny were perfect for each other.

"And I kind of made them angry…really angry," he added sheepishly.

"What'd you do now?" she sighed. She hoped Ron had not been too bad; he could be very dense sometimes. _'He still hasn't noticed the girl that's been right in front of him for who knows how long…'_

"I said something to Ginny that I shouldn't have. Though I really don't know why it was so wrong. It was only the truth…" Ron said dumbly.

"What did you say?" she asked concerned.

"Something about me protecting her and her being possessed and…I forget," Ron answered. His mum's eyes widened at what he said and she quickly grew angry.

"Go apologize to your sister right now! You're going to have to beg for her forgiveness, Ronald Bilius Weasley!" she shouted angrily. _'That boy is so thick sometimes, it's a wonder he learns anything at all.'_

"Yes, Mum," he said quickly while he hurried out of the room to go find Ginny. He did not want to face his mother's wrath. It was downright scary.

He wandered around outside for a while and could not find them anywhere. He had yet to look in the forest, and that's where they had been headed earlier. He looked through forest, but stayed near the edge of it as not to get lost. He could not find them anywhere, so they were not in the forest unless they had gone further in. He walked back to the house to eat while he waited for them to come back.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Harry and Ginny walked into the kitchen to find it eerily quiet. Ron was at the table stuffing his face with sandwiches and Mrs. Weasley was no where to be seen.

"Where have you guys been?" Ron asked immediately, looking up from his plate.

"None of your business," Ginny snapped. Harry squeezed her hand supportively.

"Sorry," Ron said sheepishly. "I was looking for you two." Harry quirked an eyebrow at Ron.

"I wanted to apologize," he clarified. "I'm sorry, Ginny. I shouldn't have said anything about your first year." He had been thinking for a long time after returning from searching for Harry and Ginny, and he had finally figured out what he had said that hurt Ginny so bad. He could not believe he had actually said that to his sister, he really had not been thinking. "I wasn't thinking when I said it, I was just surprised to see Harry kissing you, and my brotherly instincts took over. I'm really sorry, Ginny," he apologized sincerely.

Ginny stared at him for a full minute before cracking a smile. She had been looking into his eyes to see if he had really meant his apology or if he had been trying to get out of trouble.

"You're forgiven for what you said," Ginny told him. "But don't do it again," she added.

"I won't. For the record, Harry, I don't mind you dating Ginny. Just don't hurt her," he said protectively.

A sudden thought occurred to Harry. They had never really talked about what was going to happen after they had kissed. Ginny had seemed to like it when it happened, but that did not help alleviate Harry's nerves about broaching the subject with her. _'What if she was just caught up in the moment?'_

"You know I won't, Ron," Harry replied after pushing his thoughts aside. He decided that he would talk about it to Ginny later. He had not fully forgiven Ron for what he had said to Ginny, even though she had, or at least she said she did.

Mrs. Weasley came bustling in to the kitchen.

"Out, I need to start dinner," she said, shooing them out of the kitchen.

"Want to play chess, Harry?" Ron asked.

"Sure," Harry said shrugging. "Want to try to help me Ginny? I'm terrible at chess."

"Alright," she replied. They went into the living room where Ron set up the chess board.

They spent the rest of the time until dinner playing chess. Ron decimated them every time, even with Ginny helping him; he still found a way to lose terribly. They chatted amicably about nothing in general while they played.

When dinner rolled around they put the chessboard away and headed into the kitchen. They found Mr. Weasley helping his wife set the food on the table. Mrs. Weasley had gone all out for Harry. She made steak and kidney pie, mashed potatoes with gravy, fresh sourdough bread, corn on the cob and salad. Harry sat next to Ginny during the meal, their hands laced together under the table for most of it. They were shot curious glances from everyone around the table through out the meal, but they ignored it.

Harry had second helpings of everything while Ron had fifths. It turned out that it was a rare occasion that Mr. Weasley was home for dinner; he usually worked late. They chatted and laughed over the meal having a good time, but steering clear of any less-than-happy topics. For dessert Mrs. Weasley had made Harry's favorite, treacle tart, which he had three helpings of. After everyone had eaten their fill, Mrs. Weasley set the dishes to clean themselves and everyone headed into the living room.

"Mr. Weasley," Harry said quietly as everyone was exiting the kitchen. "Can I talk to you in private for a moment?"

"Sure, Harry," he answered. "Why don't we go for a walk?"

"Alright," Harry responded. They headed out the back door into the orchard. The sun was setting casting long shadows everywhere. The sky had a pink and orange tinge to it from the receding sun.

"What did you want to talk about, son?" he asked. Harry was touched when he referred to him that way.

"First, Dumbledore asked me to tell you that he will be unable to cast the Fidelius Charm today. He said he would be meeting with Snape most of the day about something important," Harry said quite frustrated that he would put off something so important.

"Really?" Mr. Weasley asked frowning.

"Yeah…I don't know why it had to be today. I mean I know the charm takes a while to perform and all, but couldn't Snape have chosen a better day?" Harry said, running his hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure, but it does seem kind of odd," Mr. Weasley agreed, thinking quickly. "I'm sure it's just a coincidence," he added a moment later.

"I don't believe in coincidences," Harry replied shortly. "What I wanted to ask you about is this new prophecy. Have you told Ginny about it?"

"No, Molly and I don't feel Ginny needs to know. Once the Fidelius Charm is in place she'll be fine, and Hogwarts is safe," he explained. Harry sighed and gathered his thoughts before speaking.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he started. "At the end of last term, Dumbledore told me the prophecy the Order was guarding. I destroyed most of his office because he had kept it from me for so long," he said explaining his thoughts on the subject. Mr. Weasley had a thoughtful look on his face, so Harry finished with a question. "What do you think Ginny is going to do if she finds out?"

"She'd probably level the Burrow," Harry joked, answering his own question.

"Yes, she probably would," he agreed with a small chuckle.

"And wouldn't it be better if she knew the danger she was in? That way she would understand why she needs to be more protected. She isn't one to go running off into danger. It's only if I drag her along," he grinned.

"You're probably right. I'll talk to Molly about it and we'll tell her tomorrow," he agreed after a moment's thought. "Come on, let's go inside, unless you have something else you want to talk about," Mr. Weasley suggested.

They walked back inside and went to the living room where Ginny, Ron and Mrs. Weasley were. Ginny looked at Harry hopefully, she knew he had wanted to talk to her dad about something before he would tell her what it was. He met her gaze and mouthed 'later', she gave a slight nod and turned back to the book she had in her lap. Mrs. Weasley was sitting in an armchair knitting what looked to be the start of a sweater. Ron was looking at a Quidditch magazine, folding down pages that detailed brooms he wanted to go back to.

Mr. Weasley walked over to his wife, bent down and whispered a few words to her. They both went into the kitchen and left the three teenagers alone.

"Where'd you and Dad go, Harry?" Ron asked.

"I just had to ask him a few things about the Order, of course I didn't get any answers," Harry lied.

"Oh," he replied, and turned back to his magazine. Harry walked over to Ginny, who had just shut her book and looked up at him expectantly.

"Walk with me?" he asked quietly. She gave him a nod, set her book on the chair as she stood up, and followed him outside. Ron frowned at them as they left him alone in the living room, but did not say anything. He did not want to make them angry at him again. Once a day was fine, but not twice.

"I'll tell you where I've been once Hermione is here as well," he said, once they had walked a ways from the back door. "Your parents are going to tell you something sometime tomorrow. I wasn't sure if you knew about it or not, so I had to clarify it with your dad, but I'll let them tell you. If you want to talk about it afterwards just come find me."

She looked at him confused. "Tell me what?"

"They'll tell you tomorrow," he said again. "If they weren't going to tell you, then I'd tell you myself, but it should be fine until tomorrow. Just promise me you won't blow up the Burrow," he added with a grin.

"Nothing could be that bad," she frowned.

"Don't worry about it 'til tomorrow, now fancy a real walk?" he asked.

"I think you have more on your mind than just walking," she retorted huskily, her chocolate brown eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

'_Merlin, she's beautiful,'_ he thought, staring into her eyes.

"Maybe I do," he replied mischievously and just as huskily.

He quickly sobered up and looked at her seriously. "Erm…about earlier," he said, he had been planning this in his mind for a little while, but suddenly he was rather nervous.

"What about earlier?" Ginny asked confusedly.

"Well, we never talked about it, and I was wondering…" Harry trailed off nervously.

"Wondering what?" she asked even more confused.

"If you w-would want to be my girlfriend," Harry stammered.

"Of course!" Ginny exclaimed, beaming widely at him. Harry sighed in relief. He was not even sure why he had been nervous.

He laced his fingers with hers and they set off at a slow pace through the garden. They walked for a bit before settling under a large oak tree near the paddock, his right arm around her shoulder pulling her in close. She snuggled into him and looked up expectantly. They did not return to the Burrow until eleven that night.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Harry sat bolt upright; something had woken him up, but he could not remember what it was. He looked at the clock in Ron's room; it read one in the morning. He had been having a wonderful dream about Ginny, after having just parted with her on the stairs from an amazing 'walk', as he had called it.

A loud BOOM pierced the silent night. Harry frowned at the loud noise. _'That must have woken me up, but what is it?'_ he questioned. Suddenly the ground started to shake slightly, and a noisy cracking sound began. The sound ended after a minute, and the ground stopped shaking.

"SHIT!" Harry swore loudly. "The wards!" Only one thing made both the ground shake and a terrible cracking noise, wards being taken down forcefully. It was a failsafe mechanism put into most wards, to warn of any impending danger.

"Ron, wake up!" he yelled at the sleeping form of his best mate. He quickly conjured a shirt and pants to throw on.

"Whaassat?" Ron grumbled sleepily.

"Wake up! The Burrow's wards are being forced down!" he shouted. He threw a pillow at his friend and ran out of the room. He dashed downstairs to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's room. Mr. Weasley was opening the door to his room groggily.

"Mr. Weasley, someone is taking the wards down," Harry said quickly.

"What?" he said, alarmed. He was fully awake now, and dashed back inside his room to get his wife. Harry did not stay to say anything else for he had run down the rest of the stairs, taking the steps three at a time, to Ginny's room on the first floor. He burst through her door to find that she was standing up holding her wand.

"What's going on, Harry?" she asked nervously

"Someone's tearing the wards down." Her eyes went wide for a moment before they adopted a fierce blaze.

"What can we do?" she asked bravely. Harry ran his hands through his hair; he was not sure what to do. She did not know about the prophecy yet, so she would not be willing to stay away from everything.

"Ginny, I need you to stay out of the fight," he said slowly.

"I'm not going to hide when my family is being attacked!" she said fiercely.

"Remember how I said your parents were going to tell you something last night?" he asked.

"Yes…" she said confusedly.

"Well, this is it, Voldemort wants to capture you," he confessed.

"H-he w-wants me?" she asked, scared to hear the answer a second time.

"Yes," he said quietly as he moved forward and wrapped his arms around her. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you or your family," he assured her.

"Yes, but who will make sure nothing happens to you?" she asked, frowning.

"Erm… I'll be fine," he said reassuringly. "Besides, your dad and Ron will probably be with me. You know there's no stopping Ron from coming with me," he said, trying to make light of the situation. He gave her a quick kiss and left the room to find Ron and Mr. Weasley. He cursed himself mentally for not having learned how to create wards.

He found them in the kitchen waiting for him. "Did you call the Order?" Harry asked Mr. Weasley.

"Can't, they set up some sort of ward blocking Floo connections," he replied dejectedly.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath. A sudden thought occurred to him, and he sent a Patronus message to Dumbledore, hoping that it would arrive soon enough for help to come.

"Best we can do for now," he shrugged. The kitchen window burst into tiny shards of glass as a Blasting Curse hit it. Harry fired off two stunners out the window.

"We need to draw them away from the house," Harry suggested. "Can you two see if you can flank them?"

"Yeah, but won't you need help?" Ron asked frowning.

"Don't worry about me, and make sure they stay away from Ginny no matter what," Harry ordered while firing off another two stunners into the night. He had no idea if they had gotten near anyone, let alone hit anyone. Mr. Weasley and Ron headed to the front door to see if they could sneak around back.

Harry threw a quick volley of stunners and Bludgeoning Hexes before hurrying to the back door. He stood on the side of the door frame and opened the door. As he'd suspected a volley of curses flew through the door and hit various objects in the kitchen. _'Better the kitchen than me.'_

He poked his head around the door to see if he could find a space to Apparate into. The sight that met him was frightful to say the least. There were at least thirty Death Eaters moving towards the house, and they were not far from it. He pulled his head back and placed a Disillusionment Charm on himself before trying something he had only done successfully twice, three point Apparition. He picked the three spots and concentrated on doing it correctly. He appeared at the first one a moment later, cast two quick stunners before he disappeared again. He felled four Death Eaters before he Apparated to his third spot, a safety point. He was behind a hedge now as the Death Eaters looked around in confusion. They had not had a chance to see him before he had disappeared to his next location.

"What the hell was that?" asked one Death Eater. His voice sounded frightened after witnessing four comrades fall and no visible target.

"Forget it, we're here for the girl. Kill anyone else you see," another Death Eater spoke up. His voice was deep and authoritative.

Harry closed his eyes, calling upon the air to help him. He shot one hand out towards a group of five Death Eaters, an invisible force grabbed them by the legs and yanked them unceremoniously off the ground thirty feet into the air. They dropped their wands in surprise and started shouting to their fellow Death Eaters for help. However, Harry failed to notice when a group of three Death Eaters snuck into the house through the back door. He had been concentrating too hard on the five Death Eaters stuck in the air.

He heard shouts and jets of light flying from his left. He saw Mr. Weasley and Ron hiding behind a large tree, firing spells at the Death Eaters. Two were on the ground stunned having been caught by surprise. However, the rest quickly caught on and soon there were ten Death Eaters flinging spell after spell at the tree. It caught fire a moment later, forcing them out from behind the tree. Harry shot off a powerful Cutting Curse at the nearest Death Eater. It caught him in the chest, causing him to topple over in pain. A large gash appeared where it had hit him, bleeding profusely. Harry looked back at Ron and found that he and Mr. Weasley were now behind separate trees, causing the Death Eaters to split their attention.

He fired off four stunners, two of which hit their marks, when he heard a scream. It was the last person he wanted to hear it from. He jumped out of his hiding place and ran towards the house, however, a few of the Death Eaters surrounding the house saw him as the Disillusionment Charm flickered because of the fast movement, and moved to engage him. He had just stunned two of them when he heard, "HARRY, HELP!"

Time seemed to pass in slow motion as he turned towards the sound. His heart almost stopped, Ginny was being dragged by two Death Eaters out of the house; he lifted his hand to stun them when he was caught in the back with a stunner. He had let his attention drift from the Death Eaters he had been fighting previously, and had not seen the stunner that had hit him in the back. His vision went black and he slumped to the ground.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Harry opened his eyes to find Mr. Weasley bending over him, having just revived him. "Alright there, son?" he asked.

"Yeah," Harry said, clutching his throbbing head. He was trying to remember what had happened before he had been stunned, when it all hit him. Someone had been dragging Ginny.

"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked frantically, hoping that she was safe. He looked around and saw Mrs. Weasley and Ron standing a little ways from them. Dumbledore was off to his left speaking with some members of the Order.

Mr. Weasley looked at him, tears in his eyes. "They took her."

"No…" Harry pleaded, hoping he was trying to pull one over him.

"I'm sorry, they did," he told Harry, fighting back his tears. Harry's eyes instantly held a fierce emerald green blaze in them. He shakily stood up, regaining his footing before walking straight over to Dumbledore.

"I told you!" he screamed at the old man.

"Harry I'm s—" Dumbledore started, however Harry did not let him continue.

"I told you that you should have cast the bloody charm today!" he yelled, furious with the old wizard for putting something so important off because _Snape_ wanted to tell him something or other. "This is all your bloody fault! You had to go off because _fucking_ Snape said he had something _important_ to show you. _Important_ my arse!" he continued ranting. Many of the Order members looked at him in shock at the way he was speaking to Dumbledore.

"You let Ginny be taken! You let the first part of this blood prophecy be fulfilled!" Harry yelled, infuriated that Dumbledore had let this happen.

"Harry, I assure you, the information Severus gave me today was vital to the Order. He had no idea there would be an attack tonight," Dumbledore tried to explain, however, Harry ignored his excuse.

"I don't care how_bloody_ important the information was, you put someone's life at risk, and now we don't know where she is! Have you ever thought that maybe Snape is playing you?" He Apparated to Ron's room, where he changed into his dragon hide body suit and boots and pulled on his black traveling cloak. He did one last sweep of the room for anything he would need, and his eyes fell on his pistol. He had forgotten to grab it when the Death Eaters had attacked; he picked it up and Apparated back outside.

"I'm going to find Ginny," he said while he attached the holster to his hip, checked the magazine, and cocked the gun. He transferred the gun to his left hand and Disapparated, leaving behind a stunned group of adults.

_A/N: So, I hope that last little bit wasn't too… 'played out', it's kinda like what you see in movies all the time. But, I think most people would want to check the magazine. The gun Harry uses is a real gun, I happen to have an Airsoft version of it, and I really like it, so I thought that could be the one he uses. It just so happens to have come out the same year this story would take place; the dates are the actual dates the gun was released to both USSOCOM, and U.S. population. I hope you don't mind all the detail I went into it about. I know some of it is gibberish to a lot of you, but I knew a lot about it so I wanted it to be explained._

_Okay, so I've noticed in a few reviews for Chapter 2, that people are concerned with an age difference between Harry/Ginny now besides the normal 1 year. I've yet to tell you what the difference is, but I've already mentioned there is one earlier in this chapter. From my point of view, anywhere from 1-5 years really is not that much. I mean yes they're young, so it's more prevalent than when you're older, but Harry has known Ginny for a while now and I believe it doesn't matter that much. However, it will be dealt with shortly, as I was already planning on it, just not putting this part in as an A/N. Though, I do understand why everyone thinks it's awkward._

_Most of the explaining about what's happened to Harry will be in Chapter 5 and 6. There may be a slight delay on those chapters as I'm stilling working on the technicalities of everything and trying to avoid plotholes._

_I understand you may feel Harry's 'language' may be a bit OOC, but it should be understandable now that it's been explained somewhat. I appreciate feedback on what you like and don't like, instead of just 'nice job' or 'I like your story', I'm not saying I don't like those because I do like them, but it helps me as a writer if I know what you like about it and what you don't(just my two cents worth). I hope you enjoyed it and thanks! Chapter 4 is with my beta!_

_-Chris_


	4. White Light

Chapter 4: White Light

A/N: So, this chapter has been really fun to write. I hope you don't find all the Muggle things uhm…kind of odd? I think a lot of it's quite useful. Thanks to my beta as always! Anyways here's Chapter 4, cheers!

"_Reducto!_" Harry screamed in rage. The dummy in front of him was instantly replaced with a pile of dust that covered the leaves and branches littering the woods. He jumped backwards as a Stinging Hex flew in front of his face, streaking through the air where he had been a moment before. A loud crack issued from his gun as he pulled the trigger at the offending dummy. He had taken off the silencing charm, wanting to hear everything that happened.

The bullet pierced the dummy's head directly between its would-be eyes, and it dropped to the ground like a rock. He fired off a quick round of Blasting Curses at another to his left as he ducked and rolled out of the way of a volley of Stinging Hexes. He Apparated behind a dummy and launched a roundhouse kick to the side of its head with his left leg, while jumping up using his right leg to deliver a second roundhouse kick a split second later. He landed crouched as the dummy crumpled. He dropped to the cold ground to avoid a Stinging Hex from a dummy behind him, then rolled onto his back and fired three rounds at it; they pierced its head in less than an inch spread.

He proceeded to decimate the rest of the dummies in the woods in the same manner, ducking and weaving his way out of the Stinging Hexes as if they were Killing Curses, all the while shattering the dummies. His seething rage still had not let up, but it had receded a bit. Panting from all the exertion, he gazed at the damage he had done to the conjured training dummies before Vanishing their remains and giving himself a quick look over.

'_Damn,'_ he thought as he spotted a sting mark on his left forearm. He had not felt it earlier, but he had been so pumped full of adrenaline that he would not have felt anything short of a bone breaking. He quickly reloaded his gun, and replaced it into his holster.

It felt good to let loose his anger for once, even though it had not totally dissipated like he had hoped it would. After catching his breath he walked over to the tree he and Ginny had 'talked' under two nights earlier. Two days…it seemed like a lifetime to him now. When he had Disapparated the night she was kidnapped to go looking for her, he'd only one thought in mind: Find her and make Voldemort pay.

The problem was that he had no idea where to begin looking. He had spent the night combing Knockturn Alley in hopes of finding a Death Eater he could 'coax' the information out of, but it had been to no avail. He had returned dejectedly to the Burrow that morning to find all the Weasleys gathered in the living room, sitting around forlornly. They had looked at him hopefully when he had entered, but he could not meet their eyes so he had just shaken his head to answer their unspoken question. He had trudged upstairs to try to get some sleep after the exhausting night, but sleep had not come to him. He'd rolled restlessly in the covers trying to will himself to sleep. After an hour or two he had finally fallen into a fitful sleep.

He'd been plagued with the same nightmare he'd had at the Dursleys', which was odd considering that he'd not had a nightmare in a very long time. He had woken up in a cold sweat early the next morning, still exhausted, the long sleep having done him little good. When he had made his way downstairs, he'd found the Weasleys getting ready to leave for Headquarters. Hermione would be meeting them there, one could never be too sure that Voldemort would not go for her too. It was not safe to be at the Burrow at the present. Harry had opted to stay while the Weasleys went to Grimmauld Place. Mrs. Weasley had been adamant about him coming with them, but Harry had argued that someone needed to stay at the Burrow in case Ginny somehow escaped and made her way back. It had taken a while, but Mrs. Weasley had finally given in.

When Dumbledore had arrived he had tried to make Harry leave also, saying that the ward he had just placed around the house would let him know if anyone showed up. Harry told him to fuck off and keep out of things after having royally screwed up with Ginny in the first place. He no longer trusted the Headmaster any more than was absolutely necessary. Dumbledore had tried to force him to leave, but that had proven to be even worse of an idea when Harry Disapparated away leaving the man alone with the rest of the Weasleys as they finished the last of the preparations for the move.

Harry had not actually gone far. He had just gone back up to Ron's room and lain down on his camp bed, trying to figure out what to do now. He missed Ginny, and could not bear to think what was happening to her. He had stayed in the room for the rest of the day and the proceeding night. The next day had found him angrier than he had ever been at Voldemort, and now in his current position, having just destroyed roughly forty dummies. He was still not sweating; yes, he had to catch his breath, but he had not broken a sweat. Wanting to do something to keep his mind off how he had failed Ginny, he stood up and broke into a run. He jogged around the paddock for an hour before going inside to get something to eat. Mrs. Weasley had left him plenty of food to eat.

He ended up making a few sandwiches and grabbing a glass of pumpkin juice to wash it all down. After finishing his lunch he ran upstairs to find something to read. He searched through his books for something he had not read yet, and he realized he needed to learn about wards. A quick trip to Diagon Alley later, he had five different books on wards, varying from ward construction to the different types and functions of wards. He had to place a special order for a book on the Fidelius Charm as it was a hard to come by book. The owner said he would have it for him within a month.

He had just settled down on a couch in the living room ready to start his new book "Everything You Need to Know About Wards" when there was a knock at the door. Harry jumped, startled at the noise, but his surprise was quickly replaced with hope, hope that it was Ginny knocking on the door, having escaped Voldemort's Death Eaters. When he opened the door, however, it was not Ginny, but it was nearly as good of a surprise.

"Remus!" Harry exclaimed, surprised to see the man, but happy at the same time. He was also a little suspicious. "What did you show me third year when you invited me to tea because I couldn't go to Hogsmeade?" he asked quickly, one hand at the ready just in case.

Remus looked surprised for a moment, before he became thoughtful and answered, "A grindylow."

Harry's shoulders sagged in relief that it was really Remus. "Good, it is you," he said.

"How are you Harry?" Remus asked with a smile as he engulfed Harry in a hug.

"Could be better, how about yourself?" Harry answered, hugging him back. They walked into the living room as Remus answered.

"Busy with all the Order stuff," he replied vaguely.

"Any word on Ginny?" Harry asked hopefully.

"No, I'm sorry Harry, but no one has heard or seen anything," Remus answered sorrowfully. Harry put his face in his hands and groaned. He could not stand thinking about what she was going through at the moment.

"You'll let me know though if you hear anything, right?" Harry asked, turning his gaze from the ground back to Remus.

"Of course, but I don't want you to go off running after her," Remus responded.

"Sorry, but if I know where she is no one will stop me from going," he said fiercely. I don't trust Dumbledore, he'll probably end up getting her hurt or even killed," Harry added disgustedly.

"Dumbledore would never let her be hurt," Remus defended the old man.

"Did you know_ Dumbledore_ is the reason Ginny is missing?" Harry asked angrily.

"What?" Remus asked sharply, Dumbledore would never let someone get hurt or kidnapped.

"He put off casting the Fidelius Charm the night she was taken. He was supposed to cast it earlier that day, but he felt that she would be fine for one more day, so he went off with," Harry paused before spitting out, "_Snape_." Remus looked at him wide-eyed.

"No, he didn't," Remus refused to believe.

"He did," Harry said, narrowing his eyes at the though of his Headmaster.

"Damn it!" Remus cursed. "I'll tell you immediately if I hear anything. I'm sorry Harry," he said sincerely.

"It's not your fault Remus; everyone follows him around like a god damn lap dog," Harry said. He knew he would not do what Dumbledore said anymore; he had his own plans for his life and he would not be the man's pawn. Although he had already come to most of that decision earlier, he now decided it was more than necessary.

Harry finally took in Remus' full appearance. The man looked haggard and tired now that he truly him over.

"Remus, are you sure you're okay? You look exhausted," Harry stated, concerned for him.

"I'm a bit tired," he conceded. _'More like I haven't slept in the past thirty six hours,'_ he thought to himself.

"You can crash here, I'll wake you up if someone comes," Harry offered.

"Thanks, but I think I'll go back to Headquarters," he replied. He stifled a yawn a moment later, causing Harry to chuckle.

"I insist. There's plenty of room. I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Weasley won't mind, in fact they'd probably be happy that an adult was here with me," Harry said.

"Oh, alright," Remus gave in. "I'll sleep here."

"Go up to Ron's room, you can use one of the beds there," Harry told him. "Let me know if you're hungry. I can make a mean sandwich." He winked, causing Remus to laugh before he made his way upstairs. Harry went back to read the book on wards. Even though the book was quite long, he finished it in a few hours. Ever since he had mastered Occlumency he could read much faster than he had previously been able to do. Occlumency allowed him to clear his mind and focus on only the book, thus enabling him to read it quickly and remember it word for word.

Harry made his way outside to attempt to create a simple ward around the house. He was going to attempt to cast an animal ward. One could cast a ward that would keep a specific animal from entering any grounds that were guarded by it; however, any that were already inside it would not be able to leave the warded area. There were two forms for every ward. The first form was the Square Formation. It was the easier of the two. In order to make the Square Formation, one must mark four points in which the ward will connect itself. These four points marked the perimeter of the specific ward. When cast, the ward would instantly be attached to the nearest two corners, thus preventing it from going to the corner across it diagonally. The beauty of the spell that marked it was that it had a self measuring system built in. Once one had made two marks the rest could only be cast in specific spots that made the lengths equal and the each mark straight across from the others, creating a perfect square.

The second form was the Circular Formation. It was the harder of the two because it did not have points marking the perimeter. One had to envision exactly where it would be when it was cast, thus making it more magically draining. However, the Circular Formation was generally stronger than the Square Formation because it had no corners, which could be used as a weak point in the ward. Harry would be trying the Square Formation first, and once he could cast it successfully he would move on to the Circular one.

He quickly marked four equal lengths around The Burrow before moving to the north east mark where he would cast the spell. In actuality it did not matter which one he was at, but that was the last mark he made, so he would cast it from there. Harry pulled out his wand, something he had not done in a long time, and pointed it down at the markings.

"_Mus Parietis_," he spoke the incantation forcefully. Magic poured from his wand as it created a wall that connected with each of the four markings surrounding the Burrow. He conjured a mouse and placed it front of the ward. With a quick stomp of his boot behind the mouse, it scurried forward in fear, but bounced off an invisible barrier.

'_It works!'_ he thought ecstatically. The book had said it took quite a while to learn how to cast even the most basic of wards due to the amount of magic needed.

He quickly removed the ward and walked around the house to figure out how far he wanted the Circular Formation to reach. Once he had it mapped it out, he called up a mental image of it as he attempted to cast it again. Once again he conjured a mouse to test the wards, but when the mouse walked through them without a problem, he sighed and took another walk around the house to get a better image. It took him three tries to get it right, but once he did it became easier as he progressed through varying difficulties of wards.

By the time he walked back into the house he was exhausted. Creating wards was draining, and Harry had done quite a few. He had mastered the intermediate ones such as Anti-Disapparation and Muggle Repelling. He had decided to leave the Anti-Disapparation ward up just in case. Ginny could not Apparate, so it would not affect her entering the house. He had spent over two hours working on the wards and it was getting late, so he went to find something to eat in the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley had left him some leftovers that he could eat, or he could make more sandwiches. Going with the leftovers, he quickly placed a warming charm on the food before going upstairs to see if Remus wanted any, but one quick look at Remus told Harry that he needed all the sleep he could get at the moment. He turned around and went back downstairs.

Harry was just settling down to eat when he heard a peck at the window. He looked up and saw an eagle owl hovering in front of the window with a letter tied to its leg. Harry knew he'd seen the owl before, but he could not remember whose it was. He opened the window and watched as the owl soared in. It made a graceful landing that looked almost arrogant. He remembered it all too well from Hogwarts. It was Malfoy's owl.

'_What the hell?'_ he thought as he moved towards the owl.

Gazing at it suspiciously, he pulled off the letter from the owl's leg. It was more of a piece of parchment than a letter.

_Riddle graveyard, midnight. Come alone or she dies._

It was not signed, but Harry knew who it was from. _'Shit,'_ he cursed as he thought about the repercussions. _'I knew I should have looked there a few days ago!'_ he sighed at his ignorance. He was trying to figure out what he should do when a sudden thought occurred that made him frown.

'_Why would Voldemort bring her where I could theoretically rescue her? He knows the prophecy, and he's not that dumb,'_ Harry thought, furrowing his brow. He had an idea that might work, but he'd need help. He quickly ran upstairs to wake Remus. He did not want to, but he needed him at the moment and it was really important.

"Remus," Harry said, shaking him slightly.

"Hmmm?" he said as he opened his eyes slowly.

"Wake up. It's important," Harry said urgency evident in his voice.

"What's the matter?" Remus asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and sitting up. Harry handed him the note.

"It's from Voldemort," he said.

"We need to tell the Order," Remus said, jumping out of bed.

"Wait, I have an idea on what to do, but I'll need some help. Let me run it by you first," Harry said. Remus nodded and sat down on the bed as Harry related his plan.

"I'll talk to some people in the Order and tell them the plan," Remus said, standing up.

"Thanks, floo me when everything is ready and we'll go from there," Harry said as they walked downstairs to the living room.

"I'll see you in a bit Harry. Wait for my floo," he replied as he tossed floo powder into the fireplace. A shout of "Grimmauld Place" and he was gone.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"_**Tomorrow we'll be stepping up your training Harry. So far we've dealt mainly with dueling, spellwork, and your wandless abilities. This is war we're dealing with. You need to have every advantage available to you. That is why you will be training with the British SAS from tomorrow onwards," Jem said. He and Harry were sitting at a large two person table, with lunch set out before them: sandwiches, crisps and butterbeer. Jem reached for a sandwich while he continued. "You know who the SAS are, Harry?"**_

"_**Erm…It sounds familiar, but I can't place it," Harry said, frowning slightly.**_

"_**Special Air Service Regiment, the Special Forces for Britain, like the Navy Seals in America and such, but better in my opinion, and I'm American, so that's saying something."**_

"_**They're part of the army then?" Harry asked, gulping at the thought of training with them. He reached forward to grab a butterbeer and popped off the cap before he took a swig. Shortly after taking a drink, he remembered Dudley always watched those war programs on the telly. He had heard a brief segment about the SAS as being one the world's premier Special Forces. If he was going to be training with them, it would definitely be hard.**_

"_**On paperwork they are, but they really aren't. Very few people know this, but the SAS were founded by wizards in the eighteenth century. They were a secret organization made by the Queen to go on special operations. Everyone believes they were founded during the Muggles' Second Great War. These wizards were a force to be reckoned with. However, fewer and fewer wizards joined the SAS, and by the time Grindelwald came to power, their numbers were dwindling. So they decided to have it go public for the Muggles to join. No one except those in it would know wizards were behind the whole thing. Now there is roughly one wizard per squad. You will be working with a squad from the Counter-Terrorism Division. These four men are the **__best __**of**__**the **__best.__** I had to call in some favors, but they'll be training with you from now on," Jem said, then proceeded to take a bite of his sandwich.**_

"_**I'm not going to tell you what they'll be teaching you. They can tell you that when you meet them tomorrow. But they are much better than any Auror can dream of," he explained. Harry nodded in understanding, completely agreeing with the inadequate Auror force. Very few were up to par with the Death Eaters, and most of those that were, were already in the Order.**_

"_**But you must treat these men with respect. They have already proven it in multiple ways, and are more dangerous than any Death Eater when it comes to doing their duty."**_

**The next day…**

"_**Harry, wake up," Abe said, shaking Harry slightly from his slumber.**_

_**The boy groaned slightly as he opened his eyes slowly.**_

"_**Whaa time iss it?" Harry asked, yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.**_

"_**Six, you need to get a bit of a head start today, so get to your routine," Abe answered as he left the room.**_

_**Harry waited another minute to let his body awaken before he got up. He quickly changed into his workout clothes. He closed his eyes and concentrated on a Quidditch pitch. Opening his eyes again, he was standing in the middle of the pitch with the sun shining down brightly on him.**_

_**After completing his workout, he changed the room back into the same bedroom he had been in early. He grabbed a fresh change of clothes and headed to the shower. Fifteen minutes later, he left the room and went to meet up with Abe and Jem. They were sitting around a table with breakfast already laid out. Harry helped himself to some food and quickly ate.**_

_**He was halfway through eating when Jem left the room. He returned ten minutes later with four men following him. They varied in height and build, but all looked like they had seen their fair share of fighting. They were dressed in the same black uniform, with various pouches and pockets throughout. Every one of them had a pin on their left shoulder of the standard sword with wings emblem of the SAS, along with the words "Who Dares Wins". Each had a pistol holstered on their right hip, and a knife on their left forearm.**_

"_**Harry, I'd like you to meet your new **__friends__**," Jem said, smirking at Harry's wide-eyed look. They all looked like they could rip Harry's head off without so much as a hint of a struggle. However, none of them looked overly muscular.**_

_**He introduced the one on the left as Alex. Alex was about six feet tall, lightly tanned skin, and had sandy brown hair. He was staring at Harry with his brown eyes, almost studying him. The man to Alex's right was John. He was about two inches shorter, and had dark brown hair. He was slightly larger than Alex, but it was probably due to his being a little bit shorter. He too was watching Harry, but he did not seem to be studying him. It seemed to be more of a look of contempt. Harry did not know what to make of it. He had not said anything yet, and it was as if the man already took a disliking to him.**_

_**The one on the right introduced himself as Trevor. Harry thought Trevor seemed nice enough, slightly overexcited. The man was about the same height as John, but he did not seem to have the same look of contempt. With dirty blond hair and brown eyes, Trevor was the exact opposite of John. He had been honored to meet the "famous Harry Potter" as he so put it. **_

_**It turned out that he was the wizard of the squad, or as the SAS called them a 'Field Mage'. Harry asked how they kept their involvement secret from the Ministry. His answer had been, "Who runs the country, the Queen or the Ministry?"**_

_**The last person to be introduced was Chris. He turned about to be the squad leader. Standing at five foot nine he was the shortest, but exuded the most power and authority out of the four. He also turned out to be the friendliest of them, actually shaking Harry's hand. He had black hair similar to Harry's, but not quite so messy. Perhaps the most interesting, yet strikingly odd detail about him were his eyes. They were a similar green to Harry's, but not as bright and powerful. That's not to say that they did not hold power themselves, just Harry's were a bit different. They could almost pass off as siblings. There were enough differences in their facial features to not be mistaken as the same person. Harry took an instant liking to Chris; however, it was odd to meet someone that looked so similar to himself.**_

_**After the introductions were made, Jem offered the four veterans some breakfast, which they all readily agreed to. Harry, who had lately been eating enough to rival Ron, had not finished and was right along with them with the idea. They exchanged polite conversation over the meal, mainly giving details about themselves. Harry learned that John was wary of all wizards, except for Trevor. His parents had been murdered by them during Voldemort's first reign of terror, which explained why he had been looking strangely at Harry. He quickly warmed up to him, and all of the previous iciness was gone.**_

_**Once breakfast was finished, Chris asked if he could speak with Harry alone for a little bit about the training and such. They made their way into the living room where they pulled up chairs across from a small table.**_

"_**Jem told you about the SAS, correct?" he asked. Harry nodded affirmatively.**_

"_**Alright then, before I start my spiel about training you and all that good stuff, I want to tell you a little bit about myself," he said. Harry nodded; he was not sure why he needed to know about his life, but shrugged it off as a conversation starter.**_

"_**Out of the four of us I'm the only one that's not full blooded Brit. I was born in America; my mum's British while my dad's American. So I kind of have a mix between American English and British English, so if you don't understand something just let me know. A little background, I lived in America 'til I was twelve, then moved to Britain for three years, and then back to America. When I was eighteen I enlisted in the Navy, and eventually made my way into the Navy Seals. I worked with them for a few years. By then I was twenty-five and pretty pissed off with the American government," at Harry's look of confusion he clarified, "Pissed off in America means angry, frustrated, that similar meaning, not drunk. Anyways, most of the American government officials are bloody idiots if you ask me. So I moved back to Britain. I was able to transfer into the SAS. Had to pull a few strings, and prove that I was capable with only the best intentions for the country, but it was worth it. I've been there ever since, and now I'm twenty-nine," he continued. Harry was having trouble understanding what he was talking about related to the U.S., and did not know how it was all relevant, but found it interesting nonetheless.**_

"_**Anyways, what I'm trying to get at is that I've been around the bush so to speak, no pun intended. I've fought wizards and the like, specifically Death Eaters, so I know what you're up against. Those Death Eaters are some pretty fucked up fellows. My wife and I were out one night, we were just leaving a restaurant when I realized I had left my wallet at the table. I told my wife I'd be right back, and left her right next to the restaurant door thinking everything would be fine. I was halfway to my wallet when I heard a commotion at the front of the restaurant. I completely forgot about my wallet, and training took over. I hurried back to the front to see what was going on. The windows had been shattered and there were two men with cloaks and masks on pushing my wife down the street," Chris said. His voice held no emotion as he knew the outcome already and had long since gotten over it. Harry knew this was nothing new for Death Eaters, but could not help the fact that he was appalled.**_

"_**At that point I was ready to hurt somebody. The one thing I will not stand for is someone threatening my family. So, I drew my pistol, I keep it with me at all times, and moved out of the restaurant, following the Death Eaters. They were headed towards the alleyway. It was pretty close to the restaurant. I knew they were wizards already, and wanted to get closer before I did anything. When they turned down the alley, I was just behind them. I rounded the corner to see one of them pointing their wand at my wife. That's when I lost it. I leveled my gun and fired two quick rounds at each. They were dead before they hit the ground. Right now you're probably trying to figure out why I'm telling you this," he said, grinning slightly. "What I really want you to know is that you're going to have to do the same thing sometime. You will have to kill someone. It's almost guaranteed if what Jem and Trevor have told me is true. You need to realize the difference, though, in killing someone and murdering someone. They are completely different. Death Eaters murder, they enjoy it, they're sick and inhuman. I may have killed people, but I have never enjoyed it. I have done it because it needed to be done to make the world a better place," he explained while Harry listened in rapt attention. The idea of killing someone was evil to Harry, however, Chris' explanation gave a whole new light and meaning to it. It almost justified it, but it would never be easy if he had to take a life. He knew in the end that he would have to take Voldemort's or die trying, but Voldemort was pure evil. It was different…or was it?**_

"_**What I'm about to say may scare you a little," Chris warned him. "You want to end the war going on, right?" Harry answered with a nod. "And you don't want it to happen again, right?" Another nod. "Then you're going to need to make this something that will keep people in line. It needs to have a lasting effect that **__everyone__**will remember and hopefully deter them from becoming evil. The only way to do that is to show them that you **__will not__** tolerate it. Putting them in jail is not enough. They need to know that their life was over the moment they embraced evil and the lust for power," Harry's eyes were wide at the last statement. **__'Is he suggesting we kill them all?'_

"_**Yes, I mean kill them. Do not let them go free," Chris said fiercely. Harry was startled that he knew exactly what he had been thinking. "The more that live, the less effect it will have on generations to come. Do you understand? I know it won't be easy, but that's why we're here."**_

"_**Yeah, it makes sense, but that doesn't mean I like it," Harry replied after a moment's thought.**_

"_**Good. Now, before we go over your training, I have a proposition for you…"**_

OoOoOoOoOoOo _**  
**_

Harry quickly sprinted outside past the Anti-Disapparation ward before he turned around. A moment later the ward was taken down, and he was sprinting back into the house. He ran up to his room to prepare. He was already in his dragon hide body suit, having worn it since he had left to find Ginny. After gathering his Invisibility Cloak, he ran over to the fireplace. He threw in some floo powder, and yelled "Mathison Manor". He stuck his head in the swirling green flames, a quick spinning sensation later, and he was looking at the entrance hall to Jem Mathison's home.

"Do you need something, sir?" a house elf asked, having just come into the room to see who flooed.

"I need to speak to Jem, quickly," Harry told the elf.

"Right away, sir!" the elf squeaked. The elf quickly left the room to get Jem. A tall, lean man of thirty-five came in a moment later. He had short brown hair that went well with his blue eyes, an odd combination, but it fit him well. He almost looked like one of those GI-Joes Harry had seen when he was younger. He was even built like one; his broad shoulders stood out, making him look like a formidable man. His arms were rather large, but they fit his body well. If Harry had not known him, he would have been fearful of the man.

"Harry ya bastard, what are ya doin' here?" Jem asked good-naturedly.

"I need some help," Harry said urgently. Jem's demeanor quickly changed from joking to serious.

"What's wrong?" he asked quickly.

"It'll take too long to explain, but I need a few things," Harry replied, hoping he would be able to get everything he needed, and Jem would not ask too many questions.

"What d'ya need?" he asked.

"Well, I need a few stun grenades, and maybe some C4. Could be useful for getting out…alive," Harry said, having already come prepared with the items he wanted. They would be useful if his theory behind Voldemort's plan proved to be true.

"Probably, I'll see what I have, come over while I look," he said. Harry pulled his head out of the fire and quickly came out of the fireplace at Mathison Manor. It was a beautiful entrance hall with rich cream colored walls and mahogany tables. The crystal chandelier lit the room brightly. There were pictures along the wall of a black haired woman, whom Harry guessed to be Jem's wife, with Jem and a child with brown hair.

"This way Harry," Jem said, leading him out of the room and into a long hallway. Various doors were along the hall, but Jem did not go in any until the last door on the left. However, before he entered, he placed his hand on a pad next to the door which scanned his hand. "A piece of Muggle technology I picked up," he explained, winking at Harry. Harry was not sure how it would keep out a simple Unlocking Charm, but then again Jem had probably used some sort of magic for that. He opened the door and motioned for Harry to enter. He followed in behind Harry while he flicked on the lights. Harry's eyes widened as he looked around the room. It held various weapons from swords and throwing knives to all sorts of guns, dating back to the first Great War. He saw a few that he recognized such as the H&K MP5N and the Colt M4A1 Carbine. Both were fun to shoot since they were automatics, but not ideal for a wizard as they required two hands to be able to use them properly.

"Got quite the arsenal here, don't you?" Harry asked with a grin, knowing just how much Jem loved to collect different weapons.

"Oh, shut up," he said, smirking at Harry before moving past him.

Jem went over to a corner and shifted a few boxes of different items, muttering to himself as he looked for what Harry listed.

"You know, a few fragmentation grenades might be a little fun too," Harry said thoughtfully, grinning with at the thought of wreaking more havoc for Voldemort.

"I really hope you're not planning on blowing up Dumbledore. Though scaring him shitless might be funny," Jem joked. "Ah ha!" he muttered, "I knew they were over here."

He pulled out a crate labeled "C4 & Detonators". _'Merlin, I would hate to piss him off,'_ Harry thought as he looked at all the explosives and weapons in the room. He could easily form and equip a small army.

Harry grabbed seven sticks of C4, each weighing two kilograms, and a detonating cord for each along with a remote detonator. He conjured a shoulder bag and placed the explosives and detonator inside before slinging it over his neck so it hung on his left side. He cast a quick Weightless Charm to rid himself of the extra fourteen kilos.

"Here we are," Jem said, shaking Harry out of his thoughts. He pulled out another crate, and placed it on an empty table before going back to the same wall and grabbing a third one.

"Stun grenades and frag grenades," he said, pointing to the two boxes respectively. Harry conjured a belt that he could clip the grenades to, making it easy for him to access them. He quickly gathered four of each, clipping them onto the belt, frags on his left and stuns on his right. He placed a charm around them that would not allow them to blow up if a spell hit them. _'I need to get Fred and George to make something like this,'_ he thought.

"So, what do you need them for anyways?" Jem asked with an amused look on his face as he watched Harry clip on the grenades.

"The _bastard_ took Ginny," Harry said angrily.

"You mean the redhead you've been drooling about forever?" Jem asked.

"Yes, her, and I'd thank you if you didn't remind me of that," Harry said, glaring at Jem for having brought up the time he had been caught drooling in his sleep with a goofy grin plastered on his face. Jem had woken him up and asked him what he had been dreaming about. Harry, not knowing what was going on at the time as he had just woken up and was still somewhat dazed, he had said "Ginny". He had come to regret it ever since.

"It's not my fault you were drooling," Jem grinned. "So, I take it you know where she is?"

"Sort of, I'm going on a whim, but I think it's going to pan out," Harry answered.

"Good, well you might want a couple extras for our pal's butt buddies," Jem said, always one to keep up the raunchy humor. He handed Harry two more of each grenade.

"I like the way you think," Harry grinned evilly as he added the four grenades to his arsenal.

"I need to go, I'm expecting Remus to floo me soon," Harry said, after looking at his watch.

"Alright, I'll walk you to the fireplace," Jem replied. Once in the entrance hall Harry turned to Jem and bid him goodbye.

"Give 'em hell, Harry," Jem said, grinning back at his young friend.

"They won't know what hit them," Harry said fiercely. His face held a determined look and his eyes held emerald flames that radiated power. Anyone that knew better would step out of the way if they saw him. It was a good thing Voldemort did not know better.

He took a pinch of floo powder and found himself spinning through the fireplaces back to the Burrow. He dusted the soot off himself that had collected from the various trips before he sat down on the couch to wait for Remus' okay. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was only seven, so he decided to read one of the other books on wards he had picked up earlier.

It was not until eleven thirty that Remus flooed. Harry had finished the book on different types of wards, and had started on a book about custom wards when the fire spurred to life and Remus' head was in the flames.

"Harry," the floating head said.

"Everything ready, Remus?" Harry asked, marking his place in the book and setting it down on the couch as he stood up.

"Yes, you'll have ten minutes before we follow," he informed Harry.

Harry was quiet for a moment deep in thought, "Ten minutes…I hope that's enough time," he mumbled to himself.

"That's all you've got before we come," Remus told him, even though Harry had not been speaking directly to him.

"Bugger it, I'll make do with what I can get," Harry said as he stretched his limbs. He had not moved much in over four hours and was somewhat stiff. "Give me a moment to loosen up and then I'll be gone."

"Alright, you've got 'til eleven fifty to leave; we will be there at midnight," Remus said, his head vanishing from the flames a moment later. Harry walked outside and began stretching; five minutes later he was ready to go. He quickly conjured a band, and pulled his hair back into a ponytail so it would not get in his face. He then covered himself with his Invisibility Cloak and Disapparated. _'Can't be late for my date!'_ he joked mournfully to himself.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry appeared a short distance from the graveyard. He had not seen the place since the end of his fourth year, and he had hoped he never would see it again. It still held the sense of foreboding and dread that he had felt in his Fourth Year when he had first arrived with Cedric via Portkey. A light mist hung in the air enhancing that sense of dread Harry felt.

Looking towards the graveyard, he could make out the faint shapes of people slowly moving around. It appeared as if they were taking their places to wait for someone, most likely him. _'So, Voldemort brought some friends to play,'_ he mused, taking note of each Death Eater's location in the graveyard. He glanced at his watch; eleven fifty-one he noted, nine more minutes.

He slowly made his way towards a break in the gates. He had to be careful not to make any noise. His boots may have a Silencing Charm on them, but that did not prevent leaves or branches from making any noise. All the while walking, he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of Ginny; he had very faint hope that she would be here. He was actually hoping that she would not be here, that he had been right.

As he was about to pass through the gates, he could feel the twinge of pain coming from his scar. _'Well, now Voldemort knows I'm here,'_ Harry mentally sighed.

"Harry, aren't you going to come out and save your girlfriend?" Voldemort taunted mockingly. Harry took note that all of the Death Eaters were fairly well hidden behind headstones and various other objects throughout the graveyard. It was a fairly normal formation, they were surrounding the middle in which Voldemort stood.

Concentrating slightly, Harry pointed his hand to a spot behind Voldemort, and cast a spell so that when he spoke it would sound like it was coming from there.

"Tom, Tom, Tom, you really don't know me at all, do you?" Harry mocked. He knew Voldemort would become angry with Harry's 'insolence' at using his given name.

"Silence! Do not refer to be by that _pathetic name_," Voldemort spat angrily. He spun around, but could not find Harry. Harry was still searching for Ginny, though he knew she was not there. He had to wait for midnight.

"But, Tom, your mummy gave it to you. So it's only right if I call you by it. I mean you know my name, it's only fair, right?" Harry asked, continuing to mock the so-called 'Dark Lord'. He knew Voldemort was growing angry. That was good and bad in its own light.

Harry made his way up to one of the Death Eaters crouching behind a headstone. As silently as he could, he summoned the man's Portkey. It zoomed out of his robe pocket and into Harry's awaiting hand. If he was right, it would take him directly to Ginny. If he was wrong, well, he would have to contemplate that later.

"I am Lord Voldemort! You will bow before me!" he screamed in rage. He was blindly stalking around the graveyard trying to find Harry.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's not polite to shout, Tom?" Harry mocked. This was the final straw for Voldemort. He started flinging around Killing Curses as if they were candy. At first he focused on the spot where Harry's voice was coming from, but after realizing it must be a trick, he switched to throwing them around at random.

Harry sighed, he did not want Voldemort to start trying to kill everything in sight. Checking his watch he saw he had a minute left before he would need to make his leave. He counted down the time, at thirty seconds he conjured an exact copy of himself. Quickly placing a stun grenade in the copy's hand, he pulled the pin and placed it firmly in its grip, so it would not go off until he wanted it to. Concentrating slightly he focused on using his magic to make it appear as life-like as possible. He walked it towards the middle of the graveyard. When Voldemort saw it, he snarled and stalked towards it. Harry noticed various Death Eaters stand up and start to surround it.

"Ten seconds," Harry muttered as Voldemort got closer to the fake Harry. He started counting down to midnight. Once he reached five, he released his hold on the dummy; waiting two more seconds, he touched the Portkey with his hand and muttered, "Activate." He felt the familiar tug behind the navel. The last thing he heard were screams as the grenade went off, blinding and deafening Voldemort and his followers. Harry knew less than a second later there would be twenty Order members surrounding the graveyard. _'I'll be there soon, Ginny,_' he promised fiercely as he disappeared from the graveyard. Little did he know that the very same girl, miles away in a dark, damp dungeon, woke up with a start when his voice echoed in her mind.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry landed in a dark room. He could not make much out at first as it was almost pitch black. There were no windows let the moonlight in. As his eyes adjusted to the abnormally dark room, he realized it was actually very large. It appeared to be a ballroom, quite grand in appearance, but with a grim feeling to it. Glancing around, Harry could only find one set of doors leading out of the ballroom. He looked up quickly and could make out the faint outlines of chandeliers spaced precisely throughout the room.

Walking towards the door, he noticed a faint metallic odor in the air that made his nose twitch. It seemed to be coming from the wall to his right. When Harry was close enough to make out the many blood stains that marred the wall, he almost jumped back. _'What the hell has been going on in here?'_ he questioned silently, unsure if he really wanted to know the answer.

He jogged over to the doors, deciding to get in and out as quickly as possible. Prepared to shield himself should an enemy be on the other side, Harry opened the door as quietly as possible and snuck inside. Looking around, he decided he must be in the antechamber. It was a bit lighter than the ballroom, as it had windows that let some of the moonlight in. He frowned when he only saw one door which led outside. Closing his eyes for a moment, he let his magic spread through out the room searching for hidden doors. He was really confused now, as there were no other doors.

'_Must be a separate building,'_ he guessed after thinking for a moment. He made his way towards the lone door, and slipped outside.

Harry found himself in the garden. To his right and left were different snake shaped hedges that lined the perimeter of the garden. He made his way down the path, looking at the various plants that were growing. It was actually quite a respectable garden; none of the plants seemed dark like the ballroom had. All sorts of flowers lined the path with larger plants behind them.

He could see a large mansion to his left that loomed over the garden. Nearing the middle of the garden, Harry came upon a fork in the path. He went left and broke into a run, the only noise that came from him was the sound of his cloak brushing against the path. He passed the end of the garden and made it onto a long porch that lined the side of the house. He made his way inside the house and came into a large kitchen.

His heart almost stopped when he entered the kitchen. Five house elves turned to look at the opening door, but because Harry was still under his Invisibility Cloak none of them could see him. He took a slow, deep breath to calm himself before carefully sneaking to the other side of the kitchen. He slipped through the swinging double doors into the dining room. He did not hear the crack of the house elf leaving the kitchen.

Harry was reaching for the doorknob to leave the dining room when the door swung open suddenly and cracked Harry in the nose. He let out an involuntary groan of pain and jumped backwards.

"Who's there?" asked a voice. Harry tried to shuffle back further, but when the man came around the corner, Harry's eye's widened in surprise.

Standing in front of him was Lucius Malfoy with his wand drawn, looking around for the person he had hit with the door.

"_Accio Invisibility Cloak!_" Lucius said. Harry grabbed at his cloak as it flew off of him, but missed it by an inch.

'_Damn it,'_ Harry swore as he tried to figure a way out of the situation.

"Well if it isn't Mr. Potter," Lucius sneered, his wand pointing at Harry's heart. Harry slowly backed up to put some distance between him and the blond haired Death Eater, but he was forced to stop when he felt the wall behind him.

"I'm not going to let you make a fool out of me this time," he said angrily, a malicious glint in his eyes.

"If I remember, you didn't even have a chance last time. You were pathetic," Harry taunted, slowly moving his hand to his holster.

However, the Death Eater appeared smarter than last time, yelling, "_Crucio!_". Harry was forced to roll to the side to avoid the curse. As he was rolling he fired off a quick succession of Blasting Curses and Bludgeoning Hexes. Lucius was able to block the first three spells with a well-placed Shield Charm, but the fourth spell, a Bludgeoning Hex, hit him in the left leg, throwing him off balance and onto the floor. He scrambled to his feet, favoring his left side and trying to aim properly at Harry, who was now moving around the dining hall as quickly as possible. He was putting a bit of distance between them along with a random pattern of movement to make it harder for Lucius to hit him. He was holding his shield up with his left hand, while he threw a Blinding Curse with his right hand. It was easily deflected, but Harry had not expected it to hit him in the first place. Lucius let off a string of hexes at Harry, who was forced to reinforce his shield while dodging as many as he could. He spun to his right to avoid a Severing Curse, but landed in the path of a Bludgeoning Hex that hit his left arm. He felt his arm roll out of its socket, and he bit his lip to keep himself from groaning in pain.

He cursed himself for his mistake, and slammed his left shoulder against the wall, forcing his left arm back into his shoulder socket. _'Oh that hurts like a bitch,'_ he winced after crudely fixing his arm. It would have to do until he could get it checked over later. He dodged a Cruciatus Curse and fired back with a quick succession of low powered Severing Curses, hoping to catch him off guard. Lucius quickly cast a Shield Charm, and the curses peppered it, weakening it, but not breaking through.

'_He got better,'_ Harry grudgingly admitted. He pointed both of his hands at separate chairs, transfiguring each of them into lions. With a quick thought, they both turned towards Lucius, roaring loudly as they bounded towards him. Lucius hit one of them with a Reductor and turned to see the second one pounce on him, biting his right arm. He dropped his wand in pain and kicked at the lion, which only made it angrier. Harry moved quickly over to Lucius and changed the lion back into a chair while stunning the bloodied man. His right arm had large gashes in it and a few chunks missing.

Harry bent over and snapped the man's wand. He quickly bound him and woke him up. The Death Eater came to slowly, but once he realized Harry was standing in front of him, looking none the worse for wear, he awakened much quicker. If looks could kill, Harry would be a pile of dust.

"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked. His eyes blazed fiercely, causing Lucius to recoil in fear, but he quickly regained as much composure as he could, considering his position.

"Why would I tell you where the blood-traitor is?" Lucius spat.

"Because if you don't you'll be wishing for death," Harry said. The look of fear that played over Lucius' face was priceless.

"She's not here!" he said quickly, his lack of eye contact clearly told Harry he was lying.

"Wrong answer," Harry said coldly. He drew back a fist and slammed it into Lucius' face. He was slightly amazed at how good it felt to finally be able to do that. Lucius had caused too much pain in Harry's life, from the Chamber of Secrets to the Department of Mysteries last year. He was not going to let the man go freely.

"She's not here. I'm telling you!" Lucius said pathetically, tasting the metallic flavor of blood in his mouth.

"I think you're lying, and if I find out that you so much as touched her…well, you don't want to think about it," Harry said as he crouched down to stare Lucius in the eyes. The Death Eater spat in Harry's face, Harry for his part didn't even flinch. He just entered the man's mind and bypassed his weakened Occlumency shields, searching for the information he wanted. The man's shields were pathetic, but given his current state of pain, they were understandably weak. He sifted through all the disgusting memories the man had until he came across the one he was looking for. He watched and memorized the path Lucius took towards the dungeons where he saw Ginny, lying on the floor still in her nightdress from when she was taken. It was ripped in multiple places, and she had bruises all over her face and arms. Lucius' next memory made Harry pull back from his mind abruptly and gaze at the Death Eater with hatred and disgust. He thought back to Chris' words and made a decision that he knew could not be avoided without the cost of other innocent lives.

"You sick fucking bastard. I was even thinking about letting you live," Harry said enraged. He watched as Lucius' eyes widened and fear was written across his face, "but after that…you're going to pay for what you did to her."

"You don't have the balls to do it," Lucius spat failing to convince himself that Harry would not go through with it.

"Oh, I don't, do I?" Harry grinned maliciously. He drew his gun with his right hand, and removed the Silencing Charm. He wanted the last thing the man heard to be the report from the gun.

"What's that, some toy?" Lucius sneered, watching Harry level the gun at his forehead. Being ignorant really did not help him at the moment.

"You really should have learned more about Muggles," Harry said feigning disappointment as he pulled the hammer back on his gun.

"And why would I want to learn about those filthy animals?" Lucius asked, scowling at Harry.

"Just cause," Harry shrugged indifferently as he pulled the trigger. Lucius' head jerked backwards as blood sprayed the wall behind him. Harry holstered his gun and ran his hands through his hair. He had been having a hard time deciding what to do with the man up until he had used Legilimency, then the choice had been easy. However, it still had not been easy to actually go through with it, no matter how much Harry had hated him at that moment. But it had been was necessary. Lucius would have kept coming back, harming more people each time if he had not been dealt with. He took a moment to clear his head; he would deal with the guilt of his actions later.

He looked down at himself and Vanished the spots of blood on his dragon hide before turning back to the dining room. To say it had been destroyed was an understatement. There were gaping holes in the wall, the table had been destroyed, and many of the chairs were no longer chairs and just piles of wood chips. He moved over and cleared a small circle in the debris and pulled out a stick of C4. He attached the detonator cord to the blasting cap, and set it to active. When he pressed the remote detonator, any detonator cord set on active with the same frequency would ignite and cause the C4 to explode. He grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and held onto it in case he would need it later.

He hurried over to the kitchen to try and shoo the House Elves out of the house. They crowded around him, trying to offer him various foods. It appeared that anyone that came into the kitchen would be expecting food.

"You need to leave!" Harry shouted at the top of his lungs. "Your master is dead; you need to leave before Voldemort comes back," he added. Hearing this, the house elves looked at him wide-eyed as if he were crazy. They did not believe him when he said that their master was dead; they wanted to, but they did not.

"Go look in the dining room," Harry said, hoping they would leave when they saw Lucius dead. One of them disappeared with a crack to go see if he was right. A moment later he was back looking at Harry with awe and fear at the same time.

"But we cannot leave, sir! We is bound to the next master!" the house elf squeaked.

"Just leave and come back in an hour!" Harry yelled. He was starting to get impatient, he needed to find Ginny before Voldemort came back.

"We will be punished if we leave," the elf said.

Harry ran his hand through his hair, trying to think of something to say. "Why don't you go clean the ballroom?" he asked. "It's really dirty and could use some cleaning up. I don't think anyone will want any food for a while."

"Yes, sir!" the elf squeaked, and a moment later all of the elves had disappeared from the kitchen.

'_Well, hopefully that will keep them out of any harm.'_

He had searched the house, as he planted C4 throughout it, for other people, but it looked like no one else was currently there. In the end, he had placed two other sticks down stairs, near parts of the house that were needed to keep the structure intact. He had placed another two on the second floor, and two more on the third. Once they were all set up, he ran outside and headed into the garden again.

He followed the path back to the fountain, and was about to follow the one path he had skipped earlier when his blood ran cold.

"You have angered me for the last time, Potter!" Voldemort shouted with pure rage. He was walking towards Harry from the antechamber with his wand drawn.

"You did not think that I wouldn't notice when one of my most loyal servants calls me did you? Or the fact that I am also alerted when one of them dies?" he asked; his tone was cold and filled with anger at Harry.

'_No! I need more time!'_ Harry cursed himself for letting Lucius touch his Dark Mark. Harry threw a volley of curses at Voldemort while he sprinted towards the dungeons. He was half way to the door that led downwards when he had to drop to the ground to avoid a Killing Curse. He rolled onto his back and fired four curses at once, two with each hand. All of them bounced off Voldemort's shield.

"Is that the best you can do? Pathetic, just like your father," Voldemort taunted coldly as he shot another Killing Curse at Harry.

Harry rolled to his right while plucking a frag grenade from his belt. He pulled the pin and magically propelled it across the ground to Voldemort's feet. It exploded in front of him; however, he had somehow managed to conjure a concrete wall to absorb most of the explosion. Harry did not dwell on this and used the distraction to run towards the door. He blasted it open with a burst of pure magic, not waiting to see if it was unlocked. He turned around and conjured a three foot thick iron wall in front of the door, and reinforced it with a bit of magic. He added two steel walls behind it before he turned and hurried down the stairs as fast as he could. He was half way down the stairs when he heard the first spell hit the iron wall. It clanked loudly, but it did not sound as if it had broken…yet.

He vaulted the last few steps and hit the ground running as he followed the path that he had seen in Lucius' memory. At an intersection he laid a Privacy Charm that would alert him when Voldemort passed that spot. He pulled off another two frag grenades and one stun grenade. He placed the two frag grenades roughly three feet across from each other, and the stun grenade about five feet in front. Using magic, he concentrated on having control of the safety lever on each. He used the magic to hold the lever in place; once that was set he pulled the pins for all three. Once the Privacy Charm was tripped he would release the magic holding the safety levers and, if all went well, Voldemort would be blind and hopefully slowed down quite a bit.

He went right at the intersection where he had laid the trap and headed down the dungeons still sprinting. _'At least all my exercise is paying off,'_ he grinned slightly to himself. He came to the last junction and took the left turn. He ran for another twenty feet before he came to a cell. She was huddled in the far corner of the cell, holding herself tightly.

"Ginny!" Harry said, relieved at having finally found her. She looked up when she heard his voice; her eyes widened and a small smile broke out on her face.

"Harry?" Ginny asked cautiously. The weak tone of her voice made Harry's heart break. She stayed in the corner, watching Harry warily. When Harry got closer he realized that the only thing she had on were her panties. Her nightgown was in complete tatters in the middle of the cell.

"It's really me, Gin," Harry said softly, making it the last few steps to the cell door. He looked down at the bars to check the lock. He was about to unlock the cell when his Privacy Charm went off. Closing his eyes, he removed the magic from the safety levers. A moment later a loud boom echoed down the hall.

"What was that?" Ginny asked, startled at the sound.

"Just a trap I set for dear old Tom," Harry answered. He quickly unlocked the door and started to move towards her. She stood up, slowly moving to him, not even bothering to try to cover herself up. Harry grew angrier when he noticed the bruises on her stomach, arms, breasts and face. When they reached each other, Harry wrapped her in a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry, Ginny. I shouldn't have left y—"

"It's not your fault, Harry," Ginny said quietly, cutting him off. She had regained some of her composure now that she knew she was safe. She knew everything would be all right now that Harry was there.

They pulled back a few seconds later, and he looked slightly down. He blushed lightly when his gaze lingered on her chest. He wanted to kill Lucius all over again for what he had done. Her eyes followed his and she colored too, though it was more from embarrassment at what had been done to her than her current attire, or lack thereof. He mentally chastised himself and conjured a set of robes for Ginny to wear while apologizing to her. She thanked him and slipped them on quickly.

"Right, we need to go," Harry said after Ginny had put the robes on. He drew his pistol and handed it to Ginny. "I don't have an extra wand on me, so use that for now. Shoot _anything_ that moves," Harry said. "Well, except me," he added. "Tell me if you need a new mag; now let's get out of here."

He grabbed her left hand with his right and they started down the dungeons. They ran at a pace that Ginny could keep up with for a little while. They had just taken the first right turn back when Ginny lost her footing and tripped. At the same time that they rounded the corner, Voldemort came around also. His robes were tattered, and he had a slightly bloody arm and leg, but otherwise he was fine. Before Harry could do anything, Voldemort shot a Killing Curse at Harry and attempted to summon Ginny to him. She shrieked at the sudden involuntary movement and dropped the gun in surprise.

Harry spun to the left, dodging the Killing Curse, and shot a Gouging Hex at Voldemort that hit his already injured left arm, causing him to cancel the Summoning Charm and clutch his left arm in pain. A chunk of his bicep was missing and blood was running down his forearm.

Ginny was left in between the two of them at an angle, forming a triangle. Harry started to move, but Voldemort had already lifted his wand at Ginny.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" Voldemort yelled, the sickly green light left his wand towards Ginny.

"No!" Harry yelled as he placed both hands in front of him, and a large burst of magic came out of his hands. The two spells flew towards Ginny; Harry had angled his slightly to cross right in front of her. At the last second the spells collided and they crashed into a wall, causing a large explosion. In the explosion, no one noticed the white light that emitted from Harry and Ginny's chests, right over their hearts.

Ginny was pushed back towards Harry from the force of the explosion, but did not seem to be injured when Harry gave her quick once over. Voldemort was on the ground, slowly picking himself up.

Harry pulled Ginny around the corner and pulled off two stun grenades. He pulled one pin, and tossed the grenade around the corner with Voldemort, and then proceeded to do the second a moment later. After two loud bangs, and shrieks from Voldemort as he clutched his eyes and threw Killing Curses around randomly, Harry and Ginny ran past him as fast as they could, dodging the curses. Harry paused to throw a Blasting Curse at him before they sprinted down to the last intersection and back up the stairs. Harry looked at Ginny and grinned slightly in relief at almost being free of the place. He pulled the C4 remote detonator from his side bag as they climbed up the stairs.

They had taken three steps out of the doorway when they were surrounded by wands. Glancing around, Harry saw over thirty Death Eaters surrounding them.

"Shit!" he muttered under his breath. Doing the only thing that would surprise the Death Eaters, he pressed the detonator. A resounding boom shook the night sky as explosions took place throughout the house. All of the Death Eaters turned to look at what had caused the noise. The house started to fall apart as the fire spread. The roof fell in, and the walls collapsed.

Harry started casting Blasting Curses at the ground in front of the Death Eaters. He had managed to knock five to the ground before the first sign of retaliation came. He pulled Ginny to the ground as three Killing Curses flew over their heads, and he did the one thing he could think of. He closed his eyes and concentrated all of his magic. He heard a few more Death Eaters say "_Avada Kedavra!_" Just as he felt the curses near them, Harry and Ginny disappeared with a deafening crack and a reverberating earthquake that was felt in a fifteen kilometer radius.

_A/N: Slightly shorter than usual, but I felt this was a great stopping point! I hope you liked it, I really enjoyed writing the action. I hope it was up to par, and that the explosions weren't a little much. You guys might be questioning some of Harry's actions, but I think most of them were explained. My yahoo group for this story and Origins is in my profile feel free to join up! Chapter 5 will be a bit longer wait, sorry. Leave a review please! Thanks_

_-Chris_


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